The Unstoppables
by AvaEobane
Summary: A peaceful city? A normal family? You wish. Superheroes need to live undercover now and between saving the world and graduating you need place for romance. AU contains Royai and other canon pairings
1. Chapter 1

AN: I don't FMA or any related characters. Any similarities with "The Incredibles" which I also don't own were purpose.

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><p>The Unstoppables<p>

A normal city somewhere in Amestris. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. It was a peaceful little town. And especially the Phoenix Streetwas a peaceful, normal environment. In this street lived the Mustang-Hawkeye-family in a beautiful house. They were normal people – but only to the eyes of someone who didn't know who they were really …  
>"EDWARD!" the blond woman screamed as she left her bedroom and nearly tripped over a shoe the boy called Edward had dropped carelessly on the floor. She was a beautiful woman with long blond hair and a perfect shape. Her waist was slim and she was curvy. Her golden hair was already combed and framed her heart-shaped face with the huge brown eyes.<br>"I'm sorry, mom!" a golden-haired boy emerged from his own room and picked the shoe up before he smiled sheepishly. "I didn't want to hurt you. I am truly sorry, mom."  
>"Never do this again, Ed," she sighed. "I don't want a broken leg and I don't want to go to hospital. You know why. So … if you would please refrain from throwing everything on the ground, then I wouldn't yell at you this often. I don't like it and you don't like it either."<br>"Having the same discussion again, sweetheart?"  
>They both starred at the man who just appeared in the kitchen door. He was handsome with his black eyes and his black hair. His skin was pale and flawless.<br>"Good morning, Roy," the woman said darkly. "Why are you already in the kitchen?"  
>"It is your birthday today, angel!" he laughed. "And as your husband I am supposed to be awfully kind today. I am not allowed to make jokes about your age … or about anything else."<br>"I hate to destroy your self-image … but you are never allowed to make jokes about her, dad," Edward said. "You could try it … if you have some death wish…"  
>Roy pouted before he kissed the woman. "Good morning, beautiful, young and strong wife," he whispered, "and happy birthday."<br>"Good morning, mom!" another boy smiled as he entered the room. His hair was shorter but he looked very similar to the other boy. "And I wish you a happy birthday!"  
>"Thank you, Alphonse," she said. "But now we should start breakfast or you'll all be late for work again. Edward, don't forget your appointment today. Alphonse, you have piano lessons today. Roy, you'll leave tomorrow for this conference in West City. I hope you are prepared…"<br>"I am, Riza," he said. "Well, I will leave now. The Hughes', the Force's and even the Mayer's are coming over for diner this evening. You'll get your present when everyone is there. Ah – and some of the other guys will come too."  
>"I see," she replied. "Well, boys, your father will drive you to school today. I have to clean the house and to walk Black Hayate. We will see each other at lunch, alright?"<p>

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><p>The woman was cleaning the living room as the phone rang. "Riza Hawkeye," she sighed.<br>"Good morning, Mrs Hawkeye. My name is Paul Allen; I am the principal of the Sacred-Heart-High-School for Boys. Could you please come over? We need to discuss something concerning your son Edward," a male voice said calmly. "How fast can you be here?"  
>"I'm already on my way," she sighed. "I will be there in a flash…"<br>She left the room, got her dog and took her shiny car. Four minutes later she reached the school and jogged to the principal's office. She knocked and entered the room. Her dark eyes scanned the room and she frowned at Edward who tried to be smaller than usual. Then she looked at the principal. "What is today's reason for the call?" she asked.  
>"Mr Goldbergh told me that Edward was disrespectful in class and that your son put drawing pins on his chair," the principal said. "And it isn't the first time that you are here, is it?"<br>"Does Mr Goldbergh have any proof?" Riza asked. "Or is it again a false accusation against my son like the other thirty times you interrupted me during my work?"  
>"Mrs Hawkeye…" Mr Allen tried to start.<br>"It's still _Professor_ Hawkeye to you," she hissed. "Try to look at it from my position. I'm a scientist and a housewife. The only time of the day that I get something done around the house is when I am alone. And I don't appreciate it when you call me during these hours. And without a proof it's pointless to punish my son, do you understand?"  
>"Well, Professor, Mr Goldbergh said he has proof this time," the head teacher said.<br>Riza glared at her son. Oh, she knew that he was guilty every time she had to come to school, but she would never admit it. She preferred to bail him out and punishing him herself. Unlike the teachers she knew what Edward and Alphonse had been through and she vowed to protect them. In addition they didn't need any teachers who punish the boys. Edward and Alphonse were different from other pupils like Roy and Riza were different from other adults.  
>Her voice was sharp and cold as she spoke again. "I want to see this proof," she said.<br>"I knew you would say this, Professor Hawkeye," Mr Goldbergh said as he entered the room. "I knew that you are a responsible woman with an unclouded judgement." He inserted a video cassette in the player and started the film. "I still don't know how he does it but he does it."  
>Edward avoided his mother's glare. He knew that he was in trouble and her punishment would be worse than any punishment the school could give him.<br>"Well, I don't see anything out of the ordinary," Riza said calmly. "My son sits at his desk. Is it forbidden for pupils now to obey the rules? My, my, I don't see any sense in it! He does nothing! How dare you to accuse my son of such a crime? How dare you to keep me away from my work? The bills won't get paid when I am here and don't work. Did you ever try to understand how hard it is for me to leave my work at least twice the week to listen to your false accusations against my son? My husband and I, we chose this school because we were told that it is a great school which supports the pupils. I am not sure about it any longer! Another incident like this – and my sons will be homeschooled. It won't make any difference since your incompetence keeps me away from my research!"  
>The principal bowed his head. "We apologise, Professor," he said. "I apologise. I thought he had a better proof against your son. I hope you will forgive us, Edward."<br>"Sure thing," he grinned. "I would probably do the same thing if mysterious things happen in the classroom and no one seems to do them…"  
>"Can I take him home with me?" Riza interrupted. "It's my birthday today and I need some help."<br>"Of course!" the head master said. "I am sorry, Professor Hawkeye."  
>Riza grabbed Edward's arm and dragged him to her car before she glared at him. "Care to explain why you were again in this office, Ed?" she hissed. "Unlike your teachers, I saw what you did. Why can't you be a nice boy? Why do you always get in trouble?"<br>"I just hate Goldbergh!" Edward murmured. "And I hate this school! Today our topic was the downfall of the superheroes! And he talked bad about them. He said that they … we were just a gang of freaks. And I just thought 'Well, now one of them is totally kicking your ass!' and put the drawing pin on his chair. I didn't know about the camera but … I was too fast for it."  
>"Edward," she sighed. "I know how much it hurts when we are called 'freaks' or something like that. And I also know that you are a very prideful boy. You miss the time when you didn't have to care about using your skills because you were a hero like all of us. But now it isn't like that anymore. We need to live in the shadows. We cannot use our skills. And sometimes we need to make a fist in our pocket and swallow our pride. It hurts me too when somebody says that we're freaks. But you cannot let it hurt you, Edward. You have to ignore it."<br>"I know!" he yelled. "But it's horrible! I never got the chance to use my power! I was too young! You can say that it's hard to suppress it every day, but you had a chance to use it!"  
>"And that's the reason why it is much harder for me or Roy to suppress it," Riza said. "We had many years in which we were celebrated. We were heroes, the people actually liked us. And then the government told us to live undercover. You were a child of only six years. I was an adult. I used my skills since my birth. I had eighteen years in which I never had to control myself. I was free back then." She lowered her head. "Don't tell me that I could never understand how you feel, Edward. I suffer too. I used to save the world with my skills, now I am a housewife. Hell, I am just twenty-four and official mother of two teenagers. Even the age in my passport is faked. My whole life is a lie. I live with an old partner of mine as a happily married couple and I take care of two children which aren't my own. The government killed my whole life, Edward."<br>"So, why didn't you protest against it?" the boy asked. "You were Hawk Girl for crying out loud!"  
>"Because all those who protested had so-called accidents," his 'mother' replied. "Cerulean tripped over a banana and broke her neck. My father, Fire, protested and died when his house burnt down. Protesting meant to die … and I don't want to die. I prefer the life of a dead woman over being killed in an 'accident'."<br>"But you like dad, don't you?" Edward asked.  
>"Yes," she nodded. "Before we became partners, we were lovers. But after our 'marriage' his feelings for me disappeared. That's what I regret the most."<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

AN: I don't FMA or any related characters. Any similarities with "The Incredibles" which I also don't own were purpose.

"This evening your wife celebrates her birthday, doesn't she?" a black-haired man with glasses grinned at Roy. "Aww, don't look at me like that. You know that I can't resist calling her that. She is your wife, after all. Like she was supposed to be from the very beginning if you ask me. I wasn't the one who screwed up your relationship with her, Roy. You were the one who started being distanced and uncaring towards her. Why did you do that to her, Roy? You loved her."  
>"I still do," he replied. "It's difficult, Maes. She is stuck with me because of this damn law against 'so-called superheroes'. We have to keep our cover. Her love for me vanished the day she nearly died, but because of the rules of our undercover-life she can't get a divorce. And … she talks in her sleep. Sometimes I lay awake the whole night and listen to her. She is angry about everything she will never have because of the damn laws!" he had to fight to keep his voice low. "You know why they put us together. They don't want anymore superhero babies. And since the chance that she would have sex with me is zero, the risk of children of us is also zero. And because she is so damn faithful and true to her word, she would never have an affair. Perfect solution for them, one stone, two birds…"<br>"Well, she used to love you … and you know how our kind loves," the man called Maes said. "And she is still very young. She still ages. Then she reaches her thirtieth year, she won't age anymore. She will freeze. That's how we live. We don't die of any natural cause…"  
>"Hello, boys," a composed, female voice said. It belonged to a beautiful woman with red curls which reached her hip. Her huge eyes were green and her heart-shaped face was pale. She wore a tight black shirt and grey pants. Her scarf was white as snow and in her hand was a bag.<br>"Hamilton," Roy sighed, "nice to see you down here."  
>"I just came to tell you that we will come this evening," she said. "Aww, I miss the old times."<br>"Ssch!" Maes said and looked around. "It's already risky enough that we stayed in contact! If someone catches us talking about the Golden Times we will be in trouble. And I refuse to get in trouble because of you! I have a wife and two daughters to take care of!"  
>"We know," Kay said and sighed. "But it gets harder to control it, don't you think it too? It used to be a walk in the park to keep everything under control, but nowadays I have trouble to keep myself from losing my cool…"<br>"That's true," Roy nodded. "Yesterday I set Riza's piano in flames because I argued with Ed. She nearly killed me. I bought already a new piano but she is still very angry with me. She hates it when I lose the control about my powers. No wonder why they chose Riza to keep us in line. Ed is not able to control his skills. But she can understand him. She understands everyone."

Riza was busy with preparing the table as Roy came back. "How was your day?" she asked.  
>"I had a nice conversation with Kay," he said. "Laila just discovered her power and flew around in Kay's flat. Our little princess has already the normal skills … superhuman speed, ability of flight … Kay and Charles need to keep an eye at her. Her speciality seems to be the manipulation of electricity like Kay had been afraid of. She already killed the new television of them…"<br>Riza sighed. "It's always the same with our children," she said. "I remember Serena … she used to overflow the bathroom because she created huge fountains when she came in contact with water. Since my specialities aren't physical I was a nice little girl … until I started to read minds. Some people found it a little bit disturbing…"  
>"But it is a great talent!" Roy said enthusiastically. "I would kill for a skill like that! Making fire is not comparable to this skill! You can manipulate everyone! And combined with your sight…"<br>She smiled fondly at him. "I like the new piano," she said. "It sounds much better than the old. You are forgiven…" She turned away. "And Edward was in Allen's office again. I bailed him out but … Goldbergh had him on tape this time."  
>"This freak has really some issues!" Roy muttered. "And Edward was fast enough? Wow … even I needed some training before I was able to escape a camera! He is a genius!"<br>"Well, I didn't punish him this time," Riza continued. "I let him explain why he did it … and Goldbergh talked bad about our kind. And for a boy like Edward it is impossible to ignore it. I couldn't bring myself to punish him for something I would have probably done myself…"  
>He wrapped an arm around her waist. "Why did you agree to become my wife, Riza?" he asked. "I still don't get it. I nearly killed you during the mission in Xing. And if you would have rebelled against it, you would have been able to lead a happier life. You don't use your skills. You try to play a little human housewife. You used to be a strong and proud super heroine. And we used to be the best team of the National Agency of Superheroes. Why did we fail?"<br>"You didn't fail, Roy," she replied. "And I agreed to marry you because you are a nice guy. And … we were close after all, weren't we?"  
>"I guess," he said. "I agreed to marry you because I could never bear to lose you. You are important to me, Riza Hawkeye, more than you we'll ever know."<br>She smiled weakly and broke away from him to raise her voice again. "Edward! Get the door already! I told you that it is your duty today!" she yelled. "Al, come to table! Roy, get the wine!"  
>As the sole woman in the house she had to draw a line between fooling around and representing as a (slightly crazy) family. She was a professional in making people work and her skills never rusted. Her ability to manipulate other peoples mind was scary – even to herself. She hated to admit it, but she was happy whenever she could relax and ignore the voices in her head. The mind of an average human was an open book for her but the mind of a superhero was much harder to decipher. She still wasn't used to ignoring her talent after the banishment.<br>Their extended family came in. There were Kay Hamilton, her husband Charles Mayer and their daughter Laila. There were Gracia and Maes Hughes with their adopted daughter Winry and their biological child Elicia. There were Lynn Hamilton Force, her spouse Martin Force with their twins Victoria Olivier and Nick Maes. Even Serena Hamilton and her boyfriend Hakon Bucaneer had come to the birthday party.  
>"Rize!" Kay grinned as she hugged the blond woman. "Happy birthday, darling! You look great! We need to go shopping next week! I saw a great dress at the mall then I was shopping with Gracia and Lynn-Lynn. And since your stupid husband is always busy…"<br>"Hey, no insults at the table, Kay," Charles said. He was a handsome man with brown hair and green eyes. He wore casual clothes like the others but they still remembered him from the days in tight outfits. Kay had often joked about the fact that superheroes were supposed to wear tight clothes even when they happened to be male.  
>"Kay, can you show us some lightening?" Edward asked with puppy eyes.<br>"I would love to, Ed, but Riza would let my brain explode before I could form the lightening," the red-haired heroine sighed. "Damn this banishment! We saved the world, more than once. And know we are labelled as freaks and mutants! I was born as a heroine! It is in my genetic material. If I would try to escape, I would have to kill myself. And I don't have a death wish, sorry."  
>"It is insane," Roy nodded. "Ever since our banishment the rate of criminality raises. It would be so easy for us to clean it up. One night, maybe two – and voilà! The town would be calm and peaceful again. But we are supposed to watch how everything falls apart. It makes me sick to imagine that this is the world in which our children have to live."<br>"You are not the only one who feels this way," Gracia sighed. "Ever since I became a mother, I want to protect little children. But since I am not allowed to use my abilities, I feel useless!"  
>Riza smirked. "The only useless person at this table is Roy," she said grinning.<br>"That isn't true! I am not useless at all! Even when it rains I can still use my standard powers!" her husband protested. "And I am not useless at all in the bedroom!"  
>An awkward silence erupted before Lynn coughed. "Roy, please," she said. "Children are present! I cannot allow you to talk this way in the presence of my children. And if you dare you disobey me, I challenge you … and lucky me, it's raining. So there will be no flames tonight, Firebird."<br>"No old nicknames!" Kay hissed. "It is already dangerous enough to meet like that!"  
>They ate in silence and as the night fell, another day for the normal family in the Phoenix Street ended.<p>

At night, Roy was angry with himself. He lied beside his wife and listened to her calm breathing and he heard her sobs, but he couldn't do anything. She was hurt and she had every right to be so. He had crossed the line with his comment. He wanted to hold her just for one night but he wasn't allowed to do so because their whole marriage was just an alibi in her eyes. She had forgotten how much he loved her.  
>He closed his eyes and tried to sleep but instead he remembered the day, she became his new partner after his old partners had formed a new team with another friend of them. He hadn't been angry with them. He had understood that they wanted to have a partner who could cheer them up. He had forgiven them long ago.<br>But he still remembered the day Hawk Girl had become his partner. She had been beautiful and strong, a perfect heroine. And he had fallen for her. He had loved to have her around him. He had loved to work with her. She had been the perfect partner for him. She had picked him up when he shattered after his former partner's accident. He remembered how hard he cried when he heard that his old partner had been shooting and that she was in coma.  
>She still was, even eight years later.<br>This damn day he had vowed that he would protect Hawk Girl. Eight years later, he was a failure. She was a broken woman with more regrets than reasons to live. He had done that to her. He was the reason why she cried at night. He was the reason why her life was a single lie.  
>But he couldn't stay away from her. He tried it … but he never succeeded. He knew how much she missed the Golden Times when they used to save the world. Now? The biggest adventure in Riza's life was making Edward drink his milk. And she used to face criminals and dark masterminds without batting an eye.<br>Their life was pathetic.  
>He was pathetic.<br>He sighed and wrapped his arms around her. She would kill him in the morning but for now it was alright. He held her close and caressed her golden hair. She was beautiful, lovelier when the stars or the moon. She looked like an angel. She was his angel.  
>Roy closed his eyes again and he saw his past.<br>He saw his old team, the twins. He saw their grinning faces. No one had ever thought that they would get in trouble. They had been too charming to have enemies. They used to smile every problem away. Probably that was the reason why some other teams had envied them that much. Storm Boy and Storm Girl had been something else. Heroes with charm and charisma … one smile of Storm Boy had broken the heart of the most dangerous killer. He had been a sweet boy with more brain then most of the other heroes. His twin had been even worse. She had been a beautiful woman with a great attitude towards every criminal.  
>He missed them badly.<p>

The next day, the sun shone brightly.  
>"Good morning, stunning woman who happens to be my wife," Roy said as he entered the kitchen where Riza was making breakfast. "I'm sorry for my remark yesterday. It was childish."<br>"It was," she sighed and turned around. "Let's not talk about it anymore, alright? And could you take care of the coffee? I need to go and wake Ed. He will oversleep when I don't do it."  
>"Alright," he said. "Did you like my present? I saw them at the mall…"<br>"I like pearls," she said and left the kitchen. She walked straight into Edward's room and shook him gently. "C'mon, Edward, aren't you hungry?" she asked softly. "Get up, get up out of bed."  
>He growled. "Don't wanna," he muttered. "I wanna sleep…"<br>"I know, but you need to get up," she said. "Come on. Wash your handsome face and comb your sleepy head. I even prepared your school uniform for today and your shoes are beside your chair. I will wait for you and Al downstairs. I will drive you to school today … and please, Ed, don't get in any trouble, alright? I need to finish the housework and the project today … please don't mess it up. Do it for me, okay?"  
>"Yes, mom," he smiled and got up. "Is dad still here or has he already left?"<br>"He is still downstairs, but he has to leave early today." Riza smiled motherly before she moved on to Alphonse's room. Edward sighed as he watched her leave. Then he did what she asked him to do and ran downstairs to eat his breakfast. "Dad…" he started suddenly. "Do you like mom?"  
>"Of course," Roy replied from behind his newspaper. "Why shouldn't I like her? She is a nice woman with a kind heart. If you don't like her, you have to be very, very insane…"<br>"No, I mean … do you love her?" the boy enquired. "I am asking because I think you do and that you are afraid of her rejection. And she said once that the government decided how everyone would live after the banishment. But that don't make any sense. Why should the government know that you two were a team earlier in your lives? I talked about this with Winry and we came to the conclusion that one of you asked for the other as partner during the banishment. And since mom has no clue about it, you have to be the one who asked for her…"  
>Roy sighed. "You are the first one who figures that one out," he said. "Yes, I asked for her as my alibi-wife. We worked together … we were a great team … we used to be lovers … It was between the first announcement of the banishment and the true beginning." He hid his face. "It shouldn't have happened … she got badly hurt in a fight … and I wasn't able to save her. When she came back to consciousness, the government told her that she would be my alibi-wife, but they never told her that I asked for it before the accident. Afterwards, when she was in hospital, I tried to file a protest about her being my companion in banishment. I had a hard time to deal with the guilt … but it was too late to turn back." He shrugged. "As she heard it, she said nothing. She had just one question: If I had a problem with requesting children. I said no … because I already killed her future once. I didn't want to kill it a second time…"<br>Alphonse entered the kitchen and smiled brightly. "Good morning, dad," he said. "Did you sleep well? No nightmares?"  
>Riza was straight behind him and frowned at Edward. "Ed, I said it often enough," she said. "No texting at the table. It's impolite, young man."<br>"Sorry, mom," he replied and put his cell phone in his bag. Even when Riza and Roy weren't the brother's parents, Alphonse and Edward had grown to call them mom and dad. It was much easier that way. In public they were the perfect family and many mothers told Riza how nice and well-educated her boys were. Riza smiled whenever she heard such a compliment. It was still hard for her to keep her three boys in line but she had much experience after six years.  
>They ate in silence before Roy left for the airport and kissed his Riza on the cheek. She just nodded before she turned her back to him and read the newspaper while Edward and Alphonse bid their so-called father a proper farewell. Suddenly it was very silent, but then Riza looked at her sons and smiled a little bit. "You should hurry," she said. "I will leave in ten minutes. Go and brush your teeth, am I understood?"<br>"Yes, mom," Alphonse smiled and hugged her before he smiled slyly at her. "Do you already miss daddy, mom?" he asked.  
>"Don't be ridiculous," she said. "Our whole marriage is an alibi."<br>But her eyes told the truth about her feelings.

Roy Mustang hated the conferences his boss sent him to. He hated to leave his family behind, especially his wife. But this conference was important and he was the best man of the enterprise. His partners were Maes Hughes, marketing, and Kay Hamilton, logistic. They were friends since the first times they had worked together to save the world.  
>"You look great, Roy," Kay said smiling. "How are your dear wife and your children?"<br>"Riza is bored, as always," Roy sighed. "She isn't born to be a housewife."  
>"It's time that your children leave the house," Maes said. "And as soon as you are alone with your beautiful wife, you should get her pregnant…"<br>"Maes!" Kay elbowed him. "Another baby of our kind would drive me into insanity! Laila got angry this morning and the result was a black-out in our district! Charles will have lots of trouble with her … I'm sure of it."  
>"Why did you come when Laila's power is overwhelming her?" Roy asked.<br>"I had no choice. Should I've said 'I am truly sorry, Mr Grumman, but my family is a gang of exiled superheroes and my daughter just discovered her ability of destroying every technique which works with electricity.'?" Kay sighed. "But Laila is much easier to deal with than the twins. Lynn's children are living hell, boys, believe me."  
>"Don't know about that," Maes said. "Their abilities are … amazing."<br>"Victoria nearly _killed_ Lynn when she became a living torch for the first time," Kay replied. "Lynn was happy that Serena had been there."  
>They boarded their plane and changed the topic slightly since average humans could listen to their conversation. They were professionals after all. They talked about their children but they didn't mention any superhuman abilities.<br>The conference took place in the Western City Hills Hotel and started in the evening. A woman with blond hair and green eyes was the host. She had a pleasant voice and was very charismatic. "I am very happy to see that so many people followed my invitation," she said and her voice was huskily with a hint of the accent of Lionnenburg, a rich city in the Western area of Amestris. "My name is Professor Charlotte Llewellyn and I am the owner of this hotel and many others."  
>Her audience applauded. Roy just stared at her. She looked exactly like Riza – if his wife would have green instead of chocolate eyes.<br>Kay elbowed him and showed him the display of her new Smartphone. He raised an eyebrow as he examined it. _'__I__know__her,__'_ he read. _'__She __is __one __of __us __and __was __known __as __Tigress. __Her __talent __is __very __similar __to __Riza__'__s __but __Llewellyn __works __with __emotions __instead __of __thoughts. __She __has __still __the __reputation __of __a __great __fighter __and __was __a __DD85-candidate. __I __remember __her __clearly __from __the __banishment. __She __disagreed __strongly __with __this __decision, __but __accepted __it.  
>She <em>_was __a __part __of __the __Brazen __Three __along __with __Sir __Jolly __and __Mr __Invincible. __She __was __known __as __the __most __active __and __dangerous __part __of __this __trio.__And __as __far __as __I __remember__ … __she __is __Riza's __grandmother.__'_


	3. Chapter 3

AN: I don't FMA or any related characters. Any similarities with "The Incredibles" which I also don't own were purpose.

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><p>After the first meeting, the three colleagues left the room and Kay frowned at her companions. "Did you see the slut?" she asked and frowned. She was a nice person and it was very rare for her to insult someone. But one old comrade received special treatment: Miss Solaris.<br>Roy grinned at his old friend. "She is here, Hamilton?" he asked.  
>"You are <em>married<em>!" she hissed.  
>"I know," he sighed. "And I was just kidding."<br>"You shouldn't make jokes about your marriage when we are present," Maes said. "Your wife is our little sister after everything we've been through."  
>"She's coming!" Kay whispered.<br>A curvy woman with black curls came towards them. She smiled brightly at Roy and ignored the both other heroes. "I heard you left your wife behind, Roy," she purred. "So … maybe I could show you a good time, sweetie … I have a huge bed upstairs…"  
>Roy glared at her. "Even when my wife is not here, I stay faithful to her," he said. "I am very happy with her. So I don't need you to show me a good time as you put it, miss."<br>"You have no idea what you miss!" she hissed. "And your plain little wife isn't faithful to you at all! She is cheating on you with some handsome blond boy! She is sick! I saw her kissing his forehead! That is … crazy!"  
>"We adopted two children after the banishment," Roy said, "and Riza is very close to them, like me. We love them. Children are wonderful; they are full of hope and light."<br>Solaris smiled catlike. "If both of you love children, Mustang, why didn't you knock her up already? And why is she still a little virgin when your marriage is that great and amazing?"  
>"Because not every relationship is about sex, slut," Kay grinned.<br>"You're such a bitch, Hamilton."  
>"Try to tell me something I never heard before from you," the red-haired woman said.<br>Roy's cell phone rang. "Mustang," he sighed. "It's you, Ed? Did something happen? You don't sound well, Edward…" He paled visibly. "She is in hospital? Why? Is she injured?"  
>Kay and Maes gasped while Solaris smirked.<br>"What do you mean, 'She just fell and won't wake up!', Edward?" Roy looked worried. "She's a super heroine! Things like that don't happen to one of us!"  
>Kay took her own cell phone and walked away to make a call. Maes put one hand on Roy's tense shoulder. "She will be fine," he said calmly. And it had to be like that because it was Riza and Riza always was fine given enough time. She was strong. She always recovered.<br>"Alright, I will come back as soon as possible," Roy sighed. "My boss will hopefully understand." He put the phone back in his pocket. "Riza is in coma," he said darkly. "But the boys were smart enough to bring her in the Superhuman-hospital of East City. She will be fine."  
>"We all knew that would happen sooner or later," Maes muttered. "Twenty-four is a dangerous age for a heroine … Gracia and Kay escaped this damn curse because they had already bonded to someone at this time. You failed to see this aspect when you got married to her."<br>"I'm such a fool!" Roy hissed. "How could I forget something like that? I saw what happened to Storm Girl some weeks after her birthday! Maes, please tell me how to help her!"  
>"I need to look it up … maybe some calls will help too … Most of the medical reports on our illnesses disappeared shortly after the banishment … but I am that I know someone who could help. Someone with a great memory…" His best friend shrugged. "I will call you."<br>Kay came back and a huge frown was shown across her beautiful face. "No flights back to the East for the next three days!" she said darkly. "I even called some old friends but you can't get a plane! It's like we are behind the moon or something like that!"  
>"But I need to get back, Hamilton!" Roy yelled. "Did you call Havoc? He has a plane now!"<br>"Havoc and Catalina are with the plane somewhere in the South and work there on a new program to find new heroes and to inform them on the damn banishment," Kay said. "I called every single contact on my list that happens to have a plane but no one is able to bring you home. I am sorry, Roy, back we need to find another solution."  
>"Is here a problem?" the host asked friendly as she passed them.<br>"He needs to go home because his beloved wife is ill," Maes said quickly. "But there are no flights for the next three days."  
>Charlotte Llewellyn grinned as she gaveRoy some keys. "My jet is on the hangar," she said. "Give it to Grumman or bring it back when everything's over…" She continued her way before she looked back. "And tell Grumman that I said hello."<p>

* * *

><p>Meanwhile Edward was pacing around in the hospital room. Now and then he looked at the woman who became his mother during the past years and he was relieved when he still saw her there. She wouldn't vanish like his biological mother did. Edward would never allow it. He would protect her. She was important to him and his brother. He closed his eyes and remembered her calm voice. She was a perfect mother. Always strict but also always caring for him and Al. Edward was afraid of the consequences her death might have of the others. He knew how much his so-called father Roy loved his wife. He knew how much Kay and her younger sisters cared for their cousin. Edward tried to sit down but it was hopeless. He stood again and paced around while his mother's voice filled his ears again despite the fact that she was in coma.<br>"And if all your friends jumped off a cliff – would you jump too?"  
>She had always been a little bit overprotective and she had tried to be a perfect mother. She had worked harder than anyone else to reach this goal. "Where you going and with whom and what time do you think you're coming home?"<br>Edward didn't know much about his mother but he knew that she hated to fail someone. He read all the newspaper articles about her and he learned a lot about her that way. She had never been part of a team before she started to work with Roy. She had been always alone but still very successful. He remembered the old photos Maes had showed him, photos of his parents during their younger days, during their days as superheroes.  
>The door opened and two doctors came in.<br>"Edward Elric Mustang?" the blond woman asked. "Hello, I'm Doctor Sarah Rockbell. I am an expert for this illness and I can tell you that your mother will be fine as soon as she awakes. This illness is serious, but it won't kill a full-grown heroine like her."  
>He nodded. "Is it my fault?" he asked. "I made her angry this morning and she still was angry when we came back from school and she fell."<br>Dr. Rockbell shook her head. "It isn't your fault," she said. "Your mother has reached a critical age and it was predictable that something like that would happen. I wonder why your aunt Helena hasn't realised the danger. We studied together … she should know something like that."

* * *

><p>Somewhere else, far away in the mountains of Briggs, two girls were running. But they were fast, faster than average humans. They were heroines, born to save the world. One of them had the outer appearance of a young woman who reached her twenty-third year. She was taller than the other woman and her black hair was longer and touched her hip. She wore a red pullover and black trousers. Her beautiful face was heart-shaped and she had stunning, dark blue eyes.<br>Her younger sister was maybe fifteen. Her hair was shorter and she had put it into a tight bun. She wore black clothes and only her hair band was red. She was as beautiful as her sister but her face was still very childlike.  
>"Alright, Jun Fan!" the younger sister said. "Where the hell are we going? Grandfather will kill us when he notices that we used our powers!"<br>"He won't notice," the woman called Jun Fan replied. "I made sure of it. I told him that we would go shopping … and maybe hunting afterwards. We have time, Lan Fan."  
>"Grandfather will know."<br>"So what? It's your birthday today and I know who you miss the most after the damn banishment. And it took me just three hours to track him down."  
>"You haven't!"<br>"Never underestimate the mysterious skills of an older sister!"  
>Lan Fan sighed. "You are insane, Jun," she said. "And that is a fact. Even grandfather would agree."<br>"The old man is just angry because I beat him yesterday during the morning training." Jun Fan shrugged. "Alright, I will stay back and hunt a little bit, just for the alibi."  
>Her sister looked at her and shrugged. Arguing with Jun Fan was lost time, everyone knew that. Jun Fan was stubborn, arrogant and selfish, but also empathic, shy and caring. She was a living contrast, but sometimes no one understood what she was thinking. Their grandfather, Fu, guessed that his eldest granddaughter missed someone, but he didn't know who. Jun Fan was like the moon, always alone and always loved.<br>But today, Lan Fan wasn't in the mood for an argument with Jun Fan and ran across the snow without leaving any traces. She was faster than her sister, but she let her win because Jun Fan was a sore loser and could be very dangerous.  
>As Lan Fan crossed the desert of snow and ice, she suddenly had a vision – no, not a vision. She wasn't the type for visions. She remembered someone. She remembered her tutor, Storm Girl. Storm Girl had been a fighter, someone who never gave in. She had been strong and tough. Even eight years after the incident that put Storm Girl in coma, Lan Fan couldn't believe it. Her tutor, her master disabled by a bullet? Something wasn't right about that. Something was wrong. And she would die to know what happened eight years ago when Storm Girl went to the warehouse. Storm Girl had been a legend. She had been strong. And she had even saved the President of Amestris once, so she was even after the banishment still very popular.<br>"Lan Fan!" a male voice called out and a boy appeared in front of her. "Long time no see!"  
>The boy was Ling Yao Armstrong, another banished hero. He and his little half-sister Mei lived with a very scary heroine called Olivier Mira Armstrong, the former Ice Queen. Ling was handsome and caring despite his goofiness.<br>"Ling," Lan Fan said surprised. "Shouldn't you stay with your mother?"  
>"She is away and meets someone. I think she is training. She still doesn't agree with the banishment and she still uses her power all around the house," Ling shrugged and hugged the girl. "I missed you, Lan Fan. You are my best friend, the person I trust the most. And … I don't know how to say it, but I … I love you."<br>She stared at him. "No one loves me," she said calmly.  
>"I do," he said and kissed her.<p>

* * *

><p>I thank everyone who actually reads this story.<br>A review would be nice.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: I don't FMA or any related characters. Any similarities with "The Incredibles" which I also don't own were purpose.

* * *

><p>By the time Roy reached the hospital, he was in panic. He had left Kay at the airport because she was a much better pilot than him and because she had been much calmer. She was always the calmest among them then something happened. She was infamous for her comment "Now, let's all calm down a little bit" during a fight against the most dangerous villain they ever faced. Other people would've called her insane, but Roy knew her better than other people. But today he had felt her inner dilemma. She had tried to hide it but he knew her since their childhood. And he understood perfectly what was troubling her. Superheroes hardly ever got in hospital and when they got there, it was always something serious.<p>

"Dad!" Alphonse hugged him. "What is going on with mommy?"

Roy sighed. "It is because she never bonded with someone," he said. "It weakens her body. I forgot it … and now she pays for my mistake."

"But you are her husband!" Edward said.

"Only in name," Roy replied. "We have never been … intimate with each other. So I am officially her husband but she doesn't see me that way. In her eyes I amprobably just some annoying guy who happens to be her so-called spouse and with whom she shares her bed."

"But you kiss her and hug her often!" Alphonse said. "You love her!"

"I do … but I can't force her to return my feelings and to become my mate," his father said. "I can only protect her from men who aren't as honourably as me; it is better this way … believe me."

Riza who lied in the bed groaned in pain and Roy took her small hand in his, before he gently kissed her fingers. "I love you still, Hawk Girl," he said.

"Why do you always say it when she is asleep?" Alphonse asked. He was pretty frustrated about his so-called parents' marriage because everything was just an act despite the fact that they loved each other. It was crazy.

"Because she can't hear me when she's asleep," Roy said as he caressed her small face. "I truly love you, Riza Hawkeye."

"I love you … too," she muttered in her sleep. "Roy … Mustang…"

Her husband nearly fainted.

"See?" Edward grinned. "She loves you too."

"She probably dreams," his father said. "And … she used to love me … I try to show her my undying love towards her every day, but she thinks that all those hugs and kisses are just a part of my duty as her perfect husband. She is clueless."

"And you're hopeless," Alphonse sighed. "Why can't you just tell her?"

"Because I am afraid of her rejection," Roy said. "And she will reject me."

"She won't," Edward shook his head. "She still loves you."

"She doesn't. She is too intelligent to love someone like me, a failure like me."

"You're truly a hopeless case," Alphonse said.

The door opened and Doctor Rockbell came in. "Alright, Mr Mustang," she said. "Your wife will make a full recovery. She left the coma and now she sleeps. We will give you something against her pain and then you can take care of her at home because she hates hospitals."

"Thank you, Sarah," Roy said. They knew each other from the Golden Times when she used to fix him up whenever he got injured during a long fight.

"I know that you can take care of her," the doctor said and turned away. "Stormy is fine regarding the circumstances and the fact that she was nearly dead."

Roy frowned. Stormy alias Storm Girl was still a touchy topic for him and he didn't like to speak about it. He felt like it had been his fault.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, a blond woman with cold eyes left her house in the mountains. She crossed a large, snow-covered yard and entered a little house. She smiled as she took off her black coat and made her way towards a little room where a man sat on a couch and read a book about the glorious past of the superheroes. As the woman came in, the man lifted his head and smiled gently at her. "You're late," he stated.<p>

"I had some trouble with Ling," she sighed. "He argued with Mei…"

He grinned and put his book aside. "Well, why have you come?"

"You know why," she replied and sat down on his lap. Her hands found his collar and started to open the buttons of his shirt while she pressed her lips on his. His hands became busy as he put them under her shirt. They made their way towards her bra and as soon as they reached their destination, he caressed her chest. At the same time, her hands roamed over his upper-body. She moaned quietly as he kissed her even more passionately. They parted as their need for oxygen became overwhelming but before they could reconnect their mouths, his phone rang.

"Lawrence Miles," he sighed while the blond woman kissed his neck. "It's you, Hamilton?" he asked worried. "Who got abducted? Mermaid Girl and Rockman? How?" The woman stared at him in complete disbelief as he paled. Suddenly, he stood up and opened his drawer before he threw clothes in a bag. "Alright, I am on my way," he said. "I will call Ice Queen … then we can search them around Briggs. Tell the others that they shouldn't make a move. Probably they have you and the others already in their focus of interest. Keep your cover." He pressed the red button and turned around. "They got Rena and Buc, Liv," he said. "That means War."

The woman sighed. "I need a babysitter for Mei and Ling," she said, "and I need some stuff before we can leave for better times."

"Let's take them with us," he said. "We could need them sooner or later."

* * *

><p>"Right now," an old man said calmly as he looked at his granddaughters, "we have just one possibility to move. We will enter a battlefield. Definitively we will fight. Probably we will get hurt. Maybe we will even die. But we won't back down. The abduction of Mermaid Girl and Rockman is a serious crime, an offense. The government won't do anything because they are both superheroes. Now we are responsible for the wellbeing of our friends. And we will bring frozen hell over our enemies."<p>

"Understood, grandfather Fu," the younger woman said.

"Roger," her sister nodded. "We will fight for our friends."

* * *

><p>Many miles away, the woman called Riza Hawkeye woke up. She was back at home since she left her coma but fell asleep right afterwards. Roy had told the doctors that he would take care of you. He was at her side in a flash as she opened her eyes. "Hello," she said groggily. "You're already back?"<p>

"You were in hospital and I came back as soon as Ed called me," her husband said. "The damn curse got you, honey."

The 'damn curse' as Roy put it eloquently was a very dangerous illness which only happened to heroines which were twenty-four years old and still unbounded. It was very annoying but kind of necessary since there were much more male than female superhuman.

Riza sighed. "How fitting," she muttered, "and how bad for me."

Roy wrapped his arms around her und pulled her closer. "I was worried," he murmured as he kissed her earlobe. "I was afraid of losing you … because … because you are important to me."

She was still half-asleep as she snuggled closer and whispered: "I love you…"

He froze. "What did you just say?"

Her whole body stiffened. "Nothing," she lied while tears started to fall. "You know what I said … but you don't need to pay attention to my feelings,Roy. One day … they will vanish … just like yours did it years ago…"

"No!" Roy hissed. "I … I cannot allow that!"

She stared at him. "What … what do you mean?"

"I never asked you one … one question," he muttered. "Do you hate me? After the Xing-incident I was sure that you hated me. I mean, I was too weak to save you … I failed you, Riza. I hated myself … it was bitter. I couldn't save the woman I love the most…"

"I never hated you," she whispered. "I thought that you hated me. I remember how angry you were at the beginning of our … so-called marriage. You tried to cancel the wedding. I … I was so sure that you detested me back then…"

"I never deserved a beautiful woman like you," Roy murmured and held her close. "I just did not want that you chain yourself on a low person like me…"

"You fool," she replied. "You were injured."

"Both of us acted like fools," he said. "You were always silent…"

"I was afraid of you, Roy. You were always angry and distant."

"You should never be afraid of anyone," he said. "I was angry with myself because I destroyed your whole life, including your future."

"You didn't." She smiled at him. "You were always kind and gentle."

He laughed and kissed her slowly.

* * *

><p>I thank everyone who actually reads this story.<br>A review would be nice.  
>Thank you, Mangagirl135 for the review.<br>It saved my day.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: I don't FMA or any related characters. Any similarities with "The Incredibles" which I also don't own were purpose.  
>Attention: Olivier will be very, very OOC<p>

* * *

><p>"What the hell is going on upstairs?" Winry Rockbell Hughes asked.<p>

Her boyfriend, Edward, shrugged. "Sounds like our parents producing another little superhero," he said amazingly unimpressed. "Was 'bout time."

Maes grinned. "Didn't I tell him to look after her and to tell her what happened to Serena and Buc? I never said something about 'sleeping with his wife while he's upstairs'!" he said in mock horror but everyone who knew him knew how happy he was since he had pestered his best friend for years with the unsolved problem.

"I hope it will be a girl," his wife said as she smiled. "Dr. Marcoh said that Serena's child is a little boy … oh, I hope that the child is alright!"

"Buccaneer will kill everyone who dares to mess with his family," Alphonse stated. "AndLynncalled Miles who already informed Olivier. They should be here soon."

"Miles … he never bounded with her, right?" Winry asked. "I still remember them making out in the hallway shortly before the banishment but … it always was kinda game for them, right?"

"You can ask him then they are here," Maes said.

The government had ordered them to stay away from each other but since most of them were related to each other the one or the other way and many of them had been close friends they had founded little communities in many big cities. The person who had tried to tell Buccaneer that he wasn't allowed to stay in contact with his old friends, Lawrence Miles and Olivier M. Armstrong, was still in hospital and the doctors doubted that he would make a full recovery.

But since the government did nothing for the heroes, most of them had organised themselves to stay strong. The remnants of **The Brazen Three** were still in contact and the members of **The Allies** lived in the same town. It was illegal but they needed each other.

"In order to save Rena and Buc," Gracia said, "we need equipment."

"Seriously, it's not like anyone actually followed the order to destroy it," Edward stated. "Dad has still his old things in a suitcase and Mom never needed anything."

Silence reigned once more until a low moan shattered it.

Edward blushed like mad. "Maybe we should leave," he said. "Mom will blow up our brains when she hears that we … eh … overheard them."

"Alright," his girlfriend said. "Let's crash into Kay's party. I'm sure that this is the best solution right now since she won't mind us."

"And whenever I have the choice between Riza's or Kay's wrath, I gladly chose Kay," Maes sighed. "She may be scary but she is not that scary…"

"Okay," Alphonse said. "So … let's take our leave before they can find us."

* * *

><p>"Who's that guy, mom?" a black-haired boy asked as he saw said man approaching them. "Do you know him from … back then?"<p>

His so-called mother, a petite woman with blue eyes, smiled. "Yes," she said. "He was my partner back then … nowadays we're a couple."

The man reached them and smiled friendly. "Nice to meet you, Ling," he said, "and nice to meet you, Mei. My name is Lawrence Miles."

Mei, a tiny girl with a complicate hairstyle, smiled shyly. "Hello," she muttered.

"Our flight is ready now," Olivier said as she wrapped an arm around Miles. "Let's leave."

* * *

><p>Some hours later, all of them were in Kay's house. But none of them saw the luxurious entrance or her famous Golden Salon. They were in the cellar of the huge estate. Kay had used this mansion for her whole carrier as a heroine and in the cellar were her old equipment and also Charles' stuff. Winry was too nervous to sit down, so she walked around in the big room. She smiled sadly as she saw Kay's old suit in behind glass. The red-haired heroine with the perfect shape had always been a sucker for mode and her suit had reflected that. It had been tight-fitting and emerald green with a golden body suit. Her red hair had been covered by the hood of the suit and her face by a small golden mask. Across the chest was a huge L for Lightening Star and on the hip was a little bag for everything a modern heroine needed.<p>

Said heroine stood beside her suit and smiled wistfully. "Alright," she said. "We know that usual humans aren't strong enough to overpower Rena and Buc. That means that another superhero – or more than one – is responsible. My first guess would be Miss Solaris and her gang."

"It would fit," Olivier agreed. "They always hated us."

"Do we know there they are?" Riza asked. She sat on her husband's lap andRoywas kissing her neck where she had a love bite.

"Yes," Charles said. He took a remote control from a desk and pressed some buttons. In the middle of the room appeared a globe and a red point showed them were **The 7S** had their lair.

"You monitored them?" Miles asked surprised.

"They were responsible for our banishment,"Lynnsaid. "Of course we never stopped our supervision." She sat on a chair with her twins on her lap and her husband stood behind her. She looked slightly dangerous despite the fact that her family was around her.

"But they could never overpower Rena and Buccaneer," the oldest man in the room said. He was seated between his granddaughters. "They are too strong."

"If they first attached Rena…" Olivier said. "Buc would never fight if she could pay for his resistance. He loves her … and he would never risk her life. He would surrender and then he would try to fight his way back."

"Okay, Olivier, Fu…" Kay nodded at the blonde and the old man. "We haven't fought since our banishment but now we have no other choice. We need to save our friends and since this is a case of emergency, we are allowed to use our skills. Alright, guys. Let's get back to business. Let's get back into our suits. Let's go back to the Golden Times of Firebird and Ice Queen!"

Olivier's eyes sparkled with glee. "We will meet again tomorrow. One day to get everything ready. I will need a new suit – my old one is so last season."

* * *

><p>Garfiel was cleaning his atelier as his phone rang. "Atelier Garfiel, always dressed correctly," he said. "It's Garfiel himself on the phone. What can I do for you?"<p>

"It's Olivier," a female voice said. "I need your help."

"I don't know any Oliviers," he replied.

"How can you dare to forget Ice Queen?" the woman hissed. "Look, Garfiel, I need a new suit … and I need it fast. My old one is … ugly and does nothing for my hips!"

"ICE QUEEN!" he yelled. "Of course I remember you! C'mon, girl! Visit my castle, my humble home! I'll tell the security to let you in!"

"Not necessary," a voice behind him said. "I am already here."

He turned around and smiled at her. "Long time no see, darling!" he said. "Wow, you became even sexier during your banishment, honey. A new suit? Do you have already something in mind or can I decide everything? Oh, you will look so hot!§

She grinned. "I hope I will."

* * *

><p>"Black?" Fu's younger granddaughter sighed deeply. "How boring."<p>

"Exactly my opinion, Lan Fan!" her sister said. "Black is expressionless!"

"Jun Fan!" Fu hissed. "Black is the colour of the shadows! You take way too much pride in your beauty! It will be your downfall one day if you keep it up!"

The young woman sighed. "I will wear black," she muttered, "but I will hate every second in it!"

* * *

><p>Riza looked at her reflection and frowned. Her skirt was way too short. Unlike most other superheroes, she didn't need any special clothes. But even she had always had a special suit, designed by Master Garfiel. She always liked skirts and she had worn a blue skirt which had touched her knees for years. It had been dark, sapphire blue and she had combined it whit a white blouse and a dark jacket. But now? The skirt barely touched her mid-tight. She frowned.<p>

"Woah!" Roy said. He wore his matching dress suit which was (of course) fireproof. "You look really great, darling."

"The skirt is way too short," she murmured. "It used to be much longer…" She glared at her husband who was a known miniskirt-lover after all. "Care to explain what happened, Roy?"

"You … you grew after the banishment!" he said. "You were still very young and you drank much milk because Ed hates milk and you always too his bottle too. So it's no wonder that your skirt is that short. – hey, where do you think you're going?"

"I need another skirt, Roy."

"Are you insane, Riza? You look amazing!"

"I look like some cheap whore!"

"You look like a very beautiful and talented super heroine who is busy with saving the world!"

"I look even worse than Solaris!" Riza yelled while her patience ran out.

"NO! You have style! You look stunning, darling! She looks cheap – you look better than ever!" he wrapped his arms around her. "And we need to check on our sons. You don't have the time to change your skirt!"

* * *

><p>"Forget it, Mei," Ling stated dryly and glared at the terrible item she held out to him. "There is no freaking way in hell that I would ever wear a pink suit with a panda on its chest."<p>

"But … but … you told me to get something nice!" she yelled at him.

"Yeah, something nice, Mei," he said before he bent down to look into her eyes. "You see, I am already fifteen and pink just look stupid on me. I would look like a clown."

"But I made it myself!" she cried into his chest. "I wanted us to have matching suits!"

* * *

><p>"Your first suit is an important step on your way as a heroine," Gracia said as she parked her car on Garfiel's parking place. "You are Irongirl, a fighter. You need a fitting suit and Master Garfiel is a really great designer."<p>

"Alright, mom," Winry said as she smiled at the woman. "Do you buy your suits here too?"

"Yes," Gracia said. "No other designer has such a high quality and such a skill when it comes to create the perfect suit for every hero. And I need a new one too. The last time I bought a new suit was before I got Elicia. I don't believe that my shape stayed the same…"

"Isn't that Olivier's car?" Winry asked suddenly as they passed an expensive car.

Her so-called mother nodded slightly. "That is really … interesting…" she muttered.

"Why?"

"Because she was not so happy with the design of her last suit … the one she used before the banishment," Gracia smiled. "She said it made her look fat. She looked great as usual but she believed that it would drew too much attention towards her hips … I never understood."

"But she always says that the looks of a person aren't everything!" Winry frowned at her.

"Well, she may say something like that but believe me, her shape is very important to her."

* * *

><p>In the extravagant building, the King of Fashion was busy. He sat on his throne-like chair and sketched a suit. "You need something traditional!" he exclaimed.<p>

Olivier nodded. "A cape!" she sighed dreamily.

He glared at her. "No cape!" he hissed. "Capes are **_so_** last season!"

She bowed her head in defeat. "Alright, you are the designer after all…"

"Exactly, honey," he smiled. "Okay, I have a wonderful idea! They called you the Ice Queen, sweetheart. We'll give them the iciest queen they could ask for!" He showed her his sketch and she gasped. "I take this reaction as a 'You're-a-genius-Garfiel!'" the designer stated smugly. "One more hour and your new suit will be ready, Icy."

"I love you," she sighed as she took another candy. "You are the best when it comes to suits…"

He laughed as he got up before he kissed her hand. "You will see, Icy, your lover will stare at you for hours!"

* * *

><p>"A new suit? Are you insane?" Lynn stared at her husband. "Why can't you wear your old stuff like everyone else too?"<p>

"Because I need a new suit, honey," Martin said. "The last one got destroyed when Vic was in her living-torch-mode yesterday…"

"I see," she sighed. "Well … any wishes? Or just a plain suit?"

"Just my logo on the chest," he said and kissed her gently. "Thank you very much, honey."

"Now, could you please call Charles and tell him that I will make a new suit for him too while I am at it?" she sighed while she took her old designs from her notebook.

"You are simply the best wife a man can wish for!" he smiled at her before he kissed her.

"I know," she sighed. "Alright, give me some time."

"Will I look great?"

"Better than usual."

* * *

><p>I thank everyone who actually reads this story.<br>A review would be nice.  
>Thank you, Mangagirl135 for the nice reviews.<br>They always save my day.  
>And thank you, whoever you are, for reading this story.<p> 


	6. Chapter 6

AN: I don't FMA or any related characters. Any similarities with "The Incredibles" which I also don't own were purpose.

* * *

><p>Somewhere in East City, Doctor Sarah Rockbell opened the door to enter a hospital room. In the centre of the room stood a bed and in the bed lay a slim woman with dark brown hair. Her breath went slowly but steady and around her, many monitors beeped. She was in coma. Sarah kneeled down at her side and gently took the hand which wasn't connected with any machine. "I am sorry, Stormy," she whispered. "But you need to regain your old strength."<p>

The sleeping woman didn't react.

"The time is rare, old friend," the doctor went on. "They are fighting again … and they need you. You are the only one who ever beat the 7S without an injury. You are our last hope." She gently stroked the hand. "You are one of our best, Stormy. Please … come back to us…"

* * *

><p>"Alright," Kay said and her voice indicated clearly that she was more than annoyed. "You tell me that it's a great idea to attack them openly since they won't understand it, Roy? Heaven knows where you have your brain, boy! We need to have a good tactic! If we fail now, I will haunt you!"<p>

He smiled at her. "Don't worry, Vic," he said. "I know them and they will never get it."

She snorted and turned away before she looked at her private jet. "You know that I don't doubt your abilities,Roy, but still … it is not complicated enough. Usually, they would never be foolish enough to put no effort in a trial to beat us. Usually, they failed because they thought too complicated and we figured it out eventually before they could even strike…"

* * *

><p>Somewhere in Drachma, a young man sighed deeply. He was really handsome with his black hair with the single red strand across his forehead and the deep green eyes. His body showed clear signs of physical strength but sorrow had engraved its song into his young but already wrinkled face. He looked around and kneeled down beside the river. He looked at his reflection and grimaced. He was angry with himself, angry about missing person at his side. His reflection blurred before it showed another face, his sister's face. She looked at him and seemed accuse him of betrayal. The man closed his eyes. He knew that he would never be the perfect child his parents deserved that much. He would also never be the brother his poor sister had needed. Maybe he had never been meant to play that role. Maybe he had never been meant to be a son or a brother. Maybe it wasn't his life. Maybe it wasn't him. But he knew that he would break his family's heart if he would be like he wanted to be. And even if he hated his live, he wouldn't do that to them because he loved them way too much to hurt them that much.<p>

The man on the river turned to look at his best friend. "Why?" he asked and his voice nearly broke. "Why can't I be the one I should be? Why feel I still guilty for leaving her behind?"

"It's because you are twins, Phil," the blond man replied and a hint of sadness laced his voice. "She will always be a part of you … and a part of your reflection. There is no you without her."

"But the girl I see in the mirror … it's not her," Phil replied. "She is my twin for crying out loud and still … I can't remember her face anymore. I try harder and harder each day. I try to remember her voice or her smell … but I can't remember her…"

"I see," his friend replied and sat down beside him. "I have sometimes trouble with remembering her too … but she will always be a part of my heart. I hate myself for forgetting her voice but … I am sure that she wouldn't blame us. She never blamed anyone. And it has been eight years since she spoke with us. Probably it's normal that we start to forget the details about her…"

"But sometimes it feels like it was yesterday that I saw her face," the man called Phil said. "Dou you remember that morning? I told her how proud I was that she is my sister and that she doesn't have to prove herself … but she walked away. If I had known what I know today … I would never have allowed her to leave the house. I would have risked fighting against her…"

"Survivor's guilt," the blond man commented while his green eyes were laced with sorrow.

"The thing is that I know why she was there when it happened," Phil went on. "She was there because they were dangerous for you and me. She went to fight them in order to save us. I … I remember how much blood was there when we finally found her … I wanted to take the pain away from her … I wanted to thank her for all her sacrifices … but I never got the chance."

"I remember how you held her afterwards," the other man nodded. "Weren't you forgiving her?"

"Yes," Phil said. "I thought that she was acting and that she would stop if she knew that I weren't mad at her anymore. That day … I would have done everything to hear her voice again…"

"Me too," the other sighed. "Sometimes I want to call her, but I know she won't pick up."

"I'm sorry for blaming her for everything I just couldn't do," Phil said and buried his face in his hands. "And sometimes I believe that I've lost myself by losing her, Bendix. The first days after the … incident … I felt broke inside, but I would never have admitted it … not even toRoy."

"He was in no better shape," the man called Bendix said. "What did he say?"

"'I knew that I would be raining today'," Phil quoted.

"It shocked all of us but he … he looked like he was dying…" Bendix shook his head. "Such a fool … he couldn't have done anything. She was probably outnumbered or something … and the day she went … away … it rained cats and dogs."

"You know that it is always hard to say goodbye when it comes to close relatives or friends…"  
>The blond man shrugged. "Well, I am going back. It gets cold and I wanted to make some tea. Come back as soon as you finished everything."<p>

The other man nodded before he looked back at the reflection. "Hello, big sister." Phil hesitated for a second before he went on. "I still believe that you are looking down on me … wherever your spirit may be now and I guess that you aren't proud of what I become, Stormy … sometimes I ask myself what you would say if you could see me now … suffering and blaming myself. Would you say that I was wrong when I let you go without support that day, Stormy? Or would you take the blame like always? Would you understand why I suffer that much and why I never say anything about you – unless it is Ben who I am talking to? Jade, I will never forget you … but your memory … it hurts so much …  
>Jade, sometimes it's really hard for me. I look into the mirror, in my own eyes … and it's you who stares back at me. Maybe it's the only way I can still look in your eyes … but still … it's a little bit creepy." He gulped. "If I had just one more day, one more chance, I would really tell you how much that I've missed more than you could imagine you since you've been taken away." Phil chuckled without glee. "Oh, it's always dangerous to love someone unconditionally, isn't it? You have known it. You were always the smarter one, weren't you? It's so out of line to try to turn back time … but still … if I could get you back, I would do it. I would sacrifice everything I ever had … Jade … I'm so sorry for blaming you for everything I just couldn't do … you know that I never meant to be that mean … and I've lost a big part myself … when I lost you."<p>

* * *

><p>I thank everyone who actually reads this story.<br>A review would be nice.  
>Thank you, Mangagirl135 for the nice reviews.<br>They always save my day.  
>And thank you, whoever you are, for reading this story.<p> 


	7. Chapter 7

AN: I don't FMA or any related characters. Any similarities with "The Incredibles" which I also don't own were purpose.

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><p>Roy looked apologetic at Kay when he was overpowered by Envy and Wrath.<br>She had been right from the very beginning.  
>It had been a trap.<br>And now he was the victim while Serena and her boyfriend/fiancé were free again. He tried to look at Riza but Maes dragged her away from the explosions between him and her. He tried to tell her how sorry he was for being captured by a freaky bitch and her insane brothers but she couldn't hear him due to the explosions. So he concentrated on his own plan B. He tried to reach the core of his power and got to the place where his power was connected to another power which was really weak at the moment.  
>And as he felt how numbness overwhelmed him, he sent all his remaining energy to this weak connection before he fainted in a very unmanly way.<p>

* * *

><p>Many miles away, suddenly a pair of beautiful jade eyes opened and a little bell ringed. A monitor which had shown a flat line which represented the pulse for more than eight years, showed a higher frequency now. The woman in the hospital bed stretched her hands before she sat up. She moved her head and massaged her neck before she stood again. She stretched her long legs and untied herself from all the medical equipment while she smiled. She combed her dark hair with her fingers and took a pair of simple jeans and a black t-shirt from the drawer before she took off her white nightgown and changed into the normal clothes. She even put her hair up before she left the room.<p>

Walking wasn't a problem for her despite the fact that she had been asleep for eight years since her muscles were still strong even if they were a little bit stiff. She left the hospital without being seen and walked across the town before she stopped to buy a cap to hide her heart-shaped, pale face. She was very thin, but it wasn't a problem. She had always been a thin and fragile woman.

Twenty minutes later she reached her destination and entered an inn. She took place at the bar and for two minutes she just stared at the wooden shelf in front of her, before she shifted her glance and looked at the barkeeper who came closer. "Good morning, young lady!" he said brightly. "Isn't it a little early for a whisky? Or do you want something else? Maybe water?"

She grinned darkly. "I need your strongest whisky," she said huskily. Her voice had suffered over the past eight years but she didn't seem to care. "And I need a phone, Yoki. I need to call someone very important." She raised her head und took the cap off while she smiled. "Long time no see, right?"

The barkeeper nearly tripped. "Storm Girl!" he said surprised. "You are in coma I heard!"

"It's a great day for you. I just woke up and needed a place to go to. And since I don't have any idea where I am, I was very happy when I saw your sign." She looked around. "Very empty today, isn't it? I still remember the days when your inn was full whenever I came in…"

"It isn't like this anymore," he sighed while he filled a glass with whisky. "The damn government banished all of you. No superheroes, Storm Girl. Everyone is gone now. They need to hide … to stay undercover … their secret identities are their sole identities now. It's tragic. And some of the best are dead. Three months after the banishment, Master Ablaze died when his house burned down. I saw Hawk Girl and Firebird at the burial … but even they gave up. Everyone gave up as those who dared to protest died in mysterious accidents." He shook his head. "And for me and all the people who lived from the business with the heroes … it's a hard time now. Garfiel makes haute couture now … but he says that it isn't the same like it used to be."

"That's tough," Jade murmured. "But why were we banished? What did we do?"

"The 7S fucked up and destroyed a whole city," Yoki said. "If Ice Queen and her old gang would not have been there, it would have been even worse. But after the incident and after some other problems, the government decided that the heroes have outlived their purpose. Golden Man and Storm Boy live undercover in Drachma now. It is great to see you, Stormy, but no one believed in your awakening. You were gone for eight years, honey. Even Firebird thought that you wouldn't make it. And he always believed in you…" Yoki sighed. "What happened to you?"

Jade starred at her glass. "I don't remember," she said slowly. "I just remember how I open the door to the warehouse and … then … just the sound of a gunshot and nothing more. But I am sure that there was something more. I stole the medical report as I left the hospital. The bullet hit me right behind my left ear. But there is nothing. Not even a scar. I have no idea what happened to me. But I need to know. This damn bullet stole me eight years of my life."

She was beautiful despite being in coma for eight years. Her dark brown hair had emerald and sapphire highlights in it and her eyes were huge and soul-searching. She looked lost and small compared to the great and strong woman she used to be, eight years before.

"Alright, honey," Yoki said. "I have still your old suit. I advise you to take it and to search your old gang. They chose Drachma because Drachma is the sole country that didn't restrict the heroes."

"That is the first good message today," the woman said and emptied her glass. "Keep my visit a secret, Yoki. Before I know what happened eight years ago, everyone is my enemy."

He just nodded and passed her a suitcase. "I would say: Don't get in trouble, but you always get in trouble, Jade," he sighed. "So … Please don't get killed. We need you to save the world."

"Alright, partner," she grinned and took the suitcase. "It's time to remind my baby brother who's the king in the ring."

Storm Girl and Storm Boy were twins with an obsession for challenging each other. Very similar in three ways, appearance, expertise and personality, they were best friends and worst enemies. Together with their friend Golden Man they had formed the Golden Trio, a powerful team. Yoki watched how she left and a thin smile appeared on his lips. Great times were coming again; he had a feeling for something like that. And if Storm Girl and Storm Boy would be both back, the 7S should get some warm clothes because the twins would bring frozen hell over them. They were too stubborn to accept each others capability to take care of him- or herself who had lead them to many competitions which led usually to collateral damage with a worth of many billion cenz. And if they were finished with destroying a whole town, they would come back to his bar to get a good scotch and a nice piece of cake. Yoki looked forward to their next visit.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Roy was in trouble and he knew it. Nothing in the world could be worse than being captured by an insane ex-heroine and her sibling. The worst part was the fact that said woman was madly in love with her prisoner who was also madly in love – but with someone else. And exactly that was a problem because the insane woman didn't understand it.<p>

He also knew that his prison was so high in the sky that only a hero with an insanely high skill for flying was able to reach him. But even when four heroes had such skills, none of them would come and save him since one of them was still in coma, another of them was exiled and lived in Drachma and the last two lived undercover in Lutetia, Creta.

It was night and he enlightened a little fire to inform the others of his position. But it was more than hopeless. The Storm-family was gone, like many other families.

He felt like crying. He would never be able to escape this prison. It would be his grave.

* * *

><p>"Alright," Kay said. She was bruised and hurt, but she was still unbeatable. "Roy is still in there and we can't get him out because they put him in a cell which is too high for our skills. That means that we have just two possibilities. We can go back and fight against all these freaks until we get him back – or we search a hero who can get him out without getting in trouble."<p>

"Just one heroine would be able to get him out and she is still in coma," Maes said darkly. "What for a great day. Firebird is captured and we can't help him."

Suddenly Charles gasped. "You won't believe me!" he said and raised his Smartphone. All of them saw the internet version of Central Times – and all of them saw the headline: _Woman awakes after eight years in coma and leaves – Is Storm Girl back?_

"She is back," Gracia said and stared in complete disbelief at her husband. "I remember how concentrated Roy looked as Envy and Wrath got him. I thought that he tried to use his powers but he tried to build a connection to Storm Girl. He knew where they would bring him."

"And as soon someone tells Storm Girl that someone dared to capture her cousin, she will bring frozen hell over them," Fu stated. "I believe we should lean back and enjoy the show."

"I just hope that dad will be back for my graduation," Edward muttered. "He promised to come."

"He will be there," Riza said and hid her eyes behind her bangs. It was hard for her, harder than she had imagined. It had been so good and then, then had Solaris destroyed her happiness again.

Winry elbowed Edward. "Go on and hug your mother, Ed!" she hissed. "She is really down right now. She needs someone who hugs her and who tells her that everything will be alright."

* * *

><p>I thank everyone who actually reads this story.<br>A review would be nice.  
>Thank you, Mangagirl135 for the nice reviews.<br>They always save my day.  
>And thank you, whoever you are, for reading this story.<p> 


	8. Chapter 8

AN: I don't FMA or any related characters. Any similarities with "The Incredibles" which I also don't own were purpose.

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><p>Izumi Curtis née Mustang raised her head as her cell phone awoke to new life and she sighed as she accepted the call. "Izumi speaking," she said and every idiot could hear how annoyed she was. "If it's nothing important, I will find a way to kill you through the phone."<p>

'I would love to see you try but this time, I am not calling for old time's sake,' her best friend from the good old days, Olivier, said. 'Roy got himself captured and since our only hope is called Storm Girl or another part of this family, we were wondering if you saw her…'

"I didn't see her in the last eight years," Izumi said slowly, "but should I see her flying by, I will make sure that she goes to free her little cousin. Honestly, what is that guy thinking?"

'I have no idea … but on the bright side, he and Hawk Girl finally came on clear terms regarding their marriage,' the blond woman said. 'You have to admit that this is something good.'

"Yeah … it still makes me want to kill him slowly and painful."

'You were the one who voted for this marriage, Iz, so you are the one who should be happy.'

"Don't get me wrong, I am happy for them even though I pity Riza that she has to stay with this fool even longer but I still wonder when I can dance at your wedding, Liv."

Her best friend chuckled. 'I am hardly the type of woman who marries,' she said.

"You would turn Miles down when he asks you?"

'I don't even think that he will ask me,' Olivier replied. 'And if he would, I would probably say yes because I don't want to hurt his feelings.'

* * *

><p>Storm Girl flew higher than the birds in the sky. Her feet touched the clouds beneath her and she felt free. She had always loved to fly and she was more than happy that her skills weren't rusty after all the years she had been away. She would have hated it if her little brother would have surpassed her. She was older; she had to be the more skilled airwoman.<p>

She flew so high in the sky that no other person, hero or not, could reach her. She was agile and her speed was neck-breaking. Still, she could feel the worries and the fears of the people beneath her. She slowly sank back to earth and made sure that she was hidden by some trees as she came down again. She threw back her hair and went to search her cousin's family because someone should be able to tell her what was going on.

She wore her old light blue dress and her hair was braided. She felt like in her old days when her name had brought fear and panic to all the villains she had defeated. Of course, she knew that her fame would never be hers alone because her little brother had been her partner.

But for all her skill and all her intelligence, even Storm Girl hadn't been able to predict what she would see as soon as she entered the house of her cousin.

Gracia was the first to notice the new person among them and a little smile appeared on her face as she got up to hug her old friend. "It has been a while," she said and sighed deeply.

"Yeah, a bullet to the head can really make things more difficult," Jade agreed with a smirk before she looked around. "Care to tell me what is going on right now?"

"Your best friend, the 7S, captured Roy," Maes said while he looked at Riza who trembled.

The newly returned heroine closed her eyes to hide her anger. "Well…" she huffed. "This time, they did it. This time, I have no other choice than to kill them all."

* * *

><p>Roy was annoyed as he sat in his cell. He had still his cell phone and he kept staring at it because he had a photo of his family as background picture. He was not Maes. He was not the type of man that would tell the whole world how much he loved his wife and his children but still, it was hard for him not to tell the stupid guard in front of his door that he needed to go home because he had a wife and two kids waiting for him.<p>

He wondered if this was how Riza had felt when she had been captured all those years ago. If she had felt the same feeling of emptiness and loneliness or if she had felt nothing but anger about the fact that someone had been able to outsmart her.

* * *

><p>Bendix sat on his bed and stared at the little book in his hands. He sighed deeply before he opened it to read a little bit.<p>

_Of course, Laura had always been the more skilful, more respected granddaughter but even the perfect girl had her dark sides … and Alessandra was the only one who could uncover these sides. Together, they could rule the world … but power didn't attract them. They were about influence and love, not about real control and lust.  
>To Laura, paradise meant being with Lars because he knew her nearly as well as Alessandra did and after all the years of war, he could make her feel whole again.<br>To Alessandra, hell meant losing control over her relationship with Ivor. All these years she had always made sure that she could leave whenever she wanted to … and now, she had to admit, that she had lost this control centuries ago.  
>Laura and Alessandra were contraries and they knew it.<br>Laura was a daughter of the Heaven with her silver hair, her pale skin and her deep blue eyes. Alessandra was a daughter of the Black Light with her ebony hair, her slightly tanned skin and her pale blue eyes. They should never have become a fate but time had forced them to cooperate.  
>"Without Ivor?" Alessandra huffed. "The difference between you and me will always be that you need Lars while I can live without Ivor. I won't say that it will be a pleasure but it would do."<br>"You are such a bad liar," Laura said, slightly annoyed. "You always took him back. He betrayed you. He hurt you so many times when he lost control … and still … you are addicted to him…"  
>"Abuse of substances is forbidden in our culture," the dark-haired woman chuckled. "And it has some good reasons why we just don't get high, Laura. All our magic … we could destroy the world."<br>"You already did this once," her younger cousin said. "You knew the danger … and still, you decided that the relationship between Lena and Luca is more important than everything else…"  
>"I wasn't the only one who found the decision of our dearest queen ridiculous."<br>"The others didn't blow up the assembly hall."  
>"I told you that it was an accident. I didn't mean to, Laura. I was just angry…"<em>

Bendix closed the book, knowing that it wouldn't get better. It had been Jade's favourite book and he had always wondered why she had loved it that much. It wasn't that good and most of the story was really predictable. Still, it reminded him of her and her soft smile.

* * *

><p>I thank everyone who actually reads this story.<br>A review would be nice.  
>Thank you, Mangagirl135 for the nice reviews.<br>They always save my day.  
>And thank you, whoever you are, for reading this story.<p> 


	9. Chapter 9

AN: I don't FMA or any related characters. Any similarities with "The Incredibles" which I also don't own were purpose.

* * *

><p>The little girl was alone.<p>

Red hair, the colour of flames, cascaded down her back and she looked strangely fragile. The evil superhero called Envy smirked devilishly as he sneaked up on her. The daughter of Lynn Hamilton and Martin Force was supposed to be already very skilled but the shape shifter doubted that. And even if she was, he was much older and had much more experience. The little girl was barely six years old and seemed to be more interested in the flowers in the garden than in anything else. The he-she-it inhaled deeply before Envy sneaked up on her. He grabbed her and knocked her out before he started to run away with her.

Nick who had noticed it started to cry and when his mother came to look after him, a bitter smile appeared on Lynn's face. "They have no idea that they just entered hell," she muttered.

"They kidnapped Vic?" Olivier chuckled darkly as she heard Lynn's voice. "I nearly pity them if they weren't our enemies right now. I mean: how stupid do you have to be to kidnap my innocent little goddaughter? And how stupid do you have to be to steal a girl who can turn into a living torch? Honestly, Envy is even dumber than I ever gave him credit for."

"He has no idea how much he will regret that move," a calm female voice said and everyone turned around to face a beautiful blond woman who leaned against the tree. "And you should do something. Honestly, most of the time you are down and depressed. People – you are heroes!"

Olivier snorted. "Ice Bird," she hissed as she took a step towards her old rival. The main problem was that the other woman was Miles' ex-girlfriend and everyone knew that he had never gotten over her. She had broken up with him when she had left for Drachma to protect the country against an extremely terrifying menace. And the problem was that Olivier knew exactly that she had no chance to keep him with her around. Ice Bird's right name was Nerissa Hamilton and she was extremely skilled and extremely beautiful.

"Ice Queen," the taller woman smirked. "It has been a while, right? Well, I was just stopping by. I am on my way to the base of the 7S. They have something that originally belonged to me."

"Nessa," Lynn said calmly while she looked at her older sister. "Do me a favour and get Vicky back. I would do it myself but I need to stay here at the moment. And should you see Firebird, tell him that we are plotting to get him out of his prison."

"Alright, alright," Ice Bird smirked while she got up into the air. "Oh – and, _Queenie_, tell Benny that I said hello … I saw him when I left for Drachma. I believe that the poor guy is a little bit confused at the moment. You and Stormy messed him up. He is trying to forget you…"

Olivier's hands curled up to tight fists. "Never bring this topic up again!" she hissed and was pretty mad at herself because of her trembling voice. She hated it when Nerissa got under her skin but – sadly enough – the other woman enjoyed nothing more than torturing her.

"Oh … so it is still touchy?" Ice Bird chuckled. "Aren't you a poor little girl?"

* * *

><p>She coughed as she fell into her cell and snapped to produce a little flame to take in her surroundings – and whished right afterwards that she didn't do it because on the bench in the corner of the dark room sat a man who was barely alive. His skin was so pale that it seemed blue and as she hurried over to him, she recognised him despite the long, filthy hair, the thin body … the eyes which didn't shine any longer…<p>

"Oh … my … god…" she whispered as she held out her hands to produce hot air to warm him.

"Cat…Cat…her…Catherina…" he said huskily. "So … they got … you too?"

She nodded while she continued to warm him with her skill. She was a flame soul like Firebird and her alias was Phoenix. She knew him since many years and she knew that any superhero with the control over more than one element tended to get cold. Hypothermia was a serious problem for them and she could keep him warm. "Yeah…" she muttered softly. "Goodness, I thought you were dead. I saw how you fell into the water … I wouldn't save you…"

"Serena will laugh at me once I get out of here," he said.

"She will be happy and grateful that you are still alive, Peter…"

* * *

><p>Victoria awoke when Envy was entering Roy's little cell and she immediately got the situation.<p>

The shape shifter didn't even know what hit him as her whole body started to burn. He didn't drop her even though it hurt like hell and activated the drizzle. The fire stopped but it was replaced with icicles and frosty air that surrounded the girl. The water freeze in seconds and the fire returned. The he-she-it cursed.

Roy got up from his place on the bench and stormed forward while he started to throw fireballs. As strong Victoria's skill was he was bound to her body while Roy had a wider range. He picked up the burning girl – unharmed because he had a related skill – and kicked Envy's regenerating body into the cell before he locked the shape shifter up. "Thanks for saving me, Vicky," Roy said.

She smiled widely and continued to burn – to avoid being grabbed and kidnapped again. "That was nothing, Uncle Roy," she said amused. "It was actually very funny to use my skill!"

He laughed as he ruffled her hair. "One day you won't have to hide that you are different any longer," he promised. "We will be accepted again, I will make sure of it."

"That would be fine…" she muttered while she fell asleep – still burning.

* * *

><p>Catherina looked at Peter whose face had returned to its usual colour. "We need to get you out of here," she said while let the air above her burn to fight against the artificial cold in the room.<p>

"If you keep me warm, I will be able to use my skill again," he said. "The cold is my only weakness, Cathy, but if you prevent it, I can get us out of here. They made sure that I would freeze all the time … these scheming bastards…"

"Do you have any idea why they keep taking us out?" she asked while she held up her hands to control the fire a little bit because as much as she liked the heat – she also liked her hair.

"Stormy got it before she was shot," Peter said while he put his hands against a wall to get to know the structure of the building. "She was smart enough to tell me – but that is the reason why I am here right now. They want to kill the president and to replace him with Wrath."

"That's the smartest plan they ever had," Catherina compliment unwillingly. "Usually Gluttony would plot to take over a chocolate enterprise or something like that…"

"Yeah – I am also very surprised that they could figure out such a complex plan…"

"I just don't get why they didn't kill Stormy. They had eight years when she played Sleeping Beauty. It wouldn't have been much of a problem to kill her back then…"

"To kill Storm Girl would have caused a rebound that would have brought back some memories they erased from other heroes," Peter said while he melted the wall. "They messed around in some heads, Cathy. They manipulated the memories of Ice Queen, Storm Girl and Golden Boy – and it will get pretty dirty once Storm Girl returns."

Finally, the wall was gone and he stared direct into the eyes of a tall, slim, blond woman with dark blue eyes who smirked. "It has been a long time, father," she said while she absorbed the cold around him. She stepped back and he spotted an unconscious Pride on the floor. She had followed his gaze and shrugged. "He underestimated me," she sighed deeply.

"It's amazing that they still didn't learn," Catherina said while she followed them down the hallway. "Honestly, everyone who messes with you ends up that way. It has gotten boring."

* * *

><p>Riza exhaled deeply as they landed on top of the building. Jade checked her surroundings before she nodded and straightened herself. It had been a little bit hard for her to fly not only herself but also Riza and Jun Fan onto the roof.<p>

"Alright," Jun Fan said with a dark smirk. "It's time to bring them down. Honestly, who do they think they are? And the timing! I could cry about such a bad timing! Lan-Lan will graduate next week and the damned 7S thinks that he can pull off such a prank?"

"Yes, we think you, Black," a deep voice said and she swirled around, ready to attack.

"Wrath!" she growled.

"Oh, the lady still remembers me … I thought you would have forgotten me…"

"How could I forget the person who takes the one who matters the most to me?" she asked before she turned her attention towards her friends. "You will go and search Roy and Vicky. I will come after you as soon as I reminded this scum of his rightful place."

"Do whatever you want to," Jade said as she dragged Riza along with her.

"Are you sure that it is a good idea to leave her behind?" the blonde asked.

"Jun Fan waited twenty years for the change to kill him," Storm Girl replied. "I know what he took from her and I always admired her strength to wait until he officially overstepped the line before she would kill him. She trembled in anticipation for the past twenty-three years – she was always polite when she saw him in the council but I knew her far too long to believe her lies."

"She will be a good distraction," Riza admitted before she nearly tripped over the unconscious Pride. "Hey – that looks like Nerissa is already on her way," she said smugly before she put both hands on his temples and a faint golden light glow in the darkness.

"What are you doing?" Jade asked impatiently.

"I erase some of his memories and make sure that he won't wake up until we are done here."

"That is really a pretty good idea."

"It is my idea after all."

"You definitively spent too much time around my cousin," Jade complained as they put Pride into a cupboard and strengthened the doors – just in case. "His annoying arrogance and irritating smugness rubbed up on you and I really don't like it at all."

"Oh, my little cousin returns from her trip to Comatose and the first things she does is to complain about me," Roy said. He had just come around the corner and smiled widely before he handed Victoria to Jade before he kissed Riza.

"Roy, as happy as I am to see that you are fine – stop making out with your wife in my presence!" Jade ordered and her annoyance was once more very, very impressive.

* * *

><p>"…so they messed up the memories?" Catherina asked while they ran through the base.<p>

"Yeah," Peter replied. "From what I got before they got me, they mixed up the memories of Jade and Bendix – tricking them into believing that they were meant to be."

"Claudio and Olivier will throw a fit once they hear that," she said dryly.

"Claudio, yes, because they couldn't mess up his memories, so they just locked him up here somewhere. You know that it is pretty much impossible to screw up the minds of heroes with strong mental powers," he said while he broke down another door. "They tried it with Riza in Xing and failed epically – and I never understood why they tried Riza after failing with Claudio before." He sighed deeply. "They got Liv – and that will cause trouble because Nessa is no one who would give up on someone that easily … and as far as I remember she has way more experience than Olivier."

"They dared to mess with Nerissa?" Catherina chuckled darkly. "That will be ugly, believe me."

"Of course it will be," he agreed. "They also exchanged some memories of Olivier and Jade – so Jade really thinks that she and Ben were meant to be…"

"I have to admit that they chose their targets wisely," the red-haired woman admitted. "Claudio and Jade, Olivier and Bendix and Nerissa andLawrencewere always especially careful to hide their relationships … so no one of us could suspect foul play…"

"I hope you know what that means for us," he said calmly before he looked at her. "This time they hired something with brain to plot everything for them – because in all honesty: none of these … clowns would have been able to create such a plan … especially not after Greed has left them for his own crew. No … our true enemy has way more brain than Pride, Envy, Lust and Wrath together…"

"You are right," she said while she went trough the drawers of the desks before the whole office suddenly burnt. "They have someone to help them … someone who was smart enough to outsmart all of us … and I have to say … my pride is shattered at the moment. It can't be!"

"I am more concerned about the fact that they were able to sent Nessa away before they started their sacrilegious methods," he said. "My daughter is very stubborn … and I usually don't see her as someone who is tricked easily. They must have manipulated her."

"That sounds logical enough," Catherina agreed. "But I highly doubt that they could mess her up as bad as they messed up the others. Nerissa has no mental powers, of course, but she is one of the most stubborn women I ever met … and I know nearly everyone from our scene."

"If I would try to manipulate Nessa, I would use a little bit of suggestion and never direct control because she has proved her stubbornness on countless occasions … as well as her pride which is one of her few weaknesses," he said while he unlocked another door. "I would say it that way: let's find Claudio and then we should get the hell out of here because I don't feel like staying."

"That's too bad, Mr Hamilton," a seductive female voice purred. "Really, how foolish of you to free him, Miss D'Artagan. You should have known that we keep our prisoners … you, Phoenix, you on the other hand were never important enough to keep you, so I will just dispose you…"

Peter shook his head, freeing his mind from her Siren-voice which could manipulate the mind of a man quite well. "I don't think so, Lust," he said sharply while flames appeared around him. "I think that you overestimate your own skill a little bit," he said smugly as she glared at him.

"No unbound man could ever resist my voice!" she shrieked. "I just need to concentrate!"

**"Darling,"** Catherina chuckled while she folded her hands to get a better access on her power. "I think that you forgot one of the most important parts: Peter and I are bound for centuries."

"Im…impossible!" Lust yelled at her.

"She is right," Peter stated calmly. "And I really hate that but … you are in the way…"

A huge flame, bigger than any flame Roy Mustang could produce appeared and erased Lust.

"Foolish woman," Catherina muttered. "Well, two down, five more to go."

* * *

><p>Jun Fan specialised in classical martial arts and possessed a speed which was far above the average and unusual great strength. And she was young and angry. Her anger about her loss burnt hot as ever and Wrath didn't really stand a chance as she just all her power. Her sadness had vanished over the past twenty years – the thirst of revenge had stayed.<p>

Finally, after half an hour, she used her strength to her advantage, broke through his defence and stabbed her little dagger right through his heart. He stumbled backwards and fell down. She didn't waste a second more and made her way into the building to help her crew.


	10. Chapter 10

AN: I don't FMA or any related characters. Any similarities with "The Incredibles" which I also don't own were purpose.

* * *

><p>Jun Fan specialised in classical martial arts and possessed a speed which was far above the average and unusual great strength. And she was young and angry. Her anger about her loss burnt hot as ever and Wrath didn't really stand a chance as she just all her power. Her sadness had vanished over the past twenty years – the thirst of revenge had stayed.<p>

Finally, after half an hour, she used her strength to her advantage, broke through his defence and stabbed her little dagger right through his heart. He stumbled backwards and fell down. She didn't waste a second more and made her way into the building to help her crew.

Black Swan was the name Jun Fan's former colleagues had given her and it was fitting … in a pretty sick and twisted way. As her special skill, she would let feathers made of black steel appear on her body. In her full transmuted body, she was nearly impossible to beat if the opponent wasn't a mentalist stronger than Riza … and those were even rarer than emphatics like Charlotte Llewellyn.

She had seen more battles than most of the younger heroes and even though she still looked like a woman who was barely twenty years old, she was much older. Her name had changed with the years but even though it was officially Jun Fan at the moment, she had been born as Jun Li and that was the name she would always carry in her heart. Jun Li's last complete transmutation had been eighty years ago. She was one of the oldest superheroes – and that was the reason why she had taken everything especially hard. Her footsteps were impossible to hear as she ran up the stairs. As she passed a mirror, she stopped to star at her reflection. She huffed as she spotted the blood on her face even though she knew that it wasn't her own. "Honestly, I am out of shape," she cursed.

"That's great," a low voice said as a deep clothed woman appeared in front of her. "You see, Black Swan, I always though that you had your good times. Weren't you always a good little heroine? You were always kind and that was why no one wondered how you are still alive. You know exactly that you weren't that popular if people knew what you used to do when you were younger…"

"Qiang," Jun Li hissed while black feathers spread out of her left arm. "I should have known that I would meet you here. You mean nothing but trouble after all … and this place has a terrible aura…"

"Surprised that you can still remember my name," the other woman said and pulled back her hood. Long black curls cascaded down her back and she smiled while she extended a hand and suddenly she held a red sword. "I thought I erased it from your mind after I made you murdering all those innocents…"

Jun Li's lips curled upwards. "I always thought that you have two faults which make it impossible for you to defeat me properly," she said. "You talk too much and you rely too much into your skill to make people do what you want them too. Honestly, it takes no huge mental strength to shake off your control."

"You were able to shake it off?" Qiang raised her eyebrow. "That's too bad … I really hoped that I would have successfully corrupted your innocent mind." She looked hateful at the taller woman. "You are nothing but a lowly servant after all … you called it partnership but you always followed orders … I thought that I wouldn't need so much power to control you since you are used to doing how other people tell you…"

"Those times are over," Jun Li said calmly as she pushed back her black hair. "Don't you feel it? The power of a hero grows under certain circumstances … especially when someone beloved is in danger…" She made a simple movement with her wrist and a single silver feather appeared. "I waited for this day…"

"Under other circumstances I would have loved to fight against you to the end but I have other business to attend and since some fools erased Lust and since you killed Wrath, I need to clean up a little bit," Qiang said while she smiled sadly. "Don't take it as a personal offense but I don't have the time to kill you in an honourable fight. I kill use one of my new skills and it kills everyone in one blow. Sorry, Jun-Jun…" She aimed her sword on Black Swan who just stood there with a smile. "_Vanisher_!" she yelled.

Jun Li didn't even attempt to dodge the attack. She just raised her hand and took the green light with her palm – but instead of vanishing like she had been supposed to, she just took one step backwards before she sighed deeply. "That's everything?" she asked and sounded more than disappointed. "C'mon – you can never kill me with such a low skill. You need more to kill me!" A single pirouette and she stood behind her old enemy with the silver feather on the other woman's neck. "And you should have read the files, Qiang: you cannot vanish something you vanished before…"

"You died?"

"Many years ago, yeah," Jun Li shrugged. "It was no big deal and as you can see: I came back."

There were two kinds of superheroes and it was really hard to get to know which kind someone belonged to. There were the ones who could die just once and the ones who were nearly impossible to kill. Lust had been a member of the second kind. She had been 'killed' by Jade at least nine times … fourteen times by Riza (they had never liked each other) … twelve times by Roy and countless times by other heroes because she had hidden her weakness better than other semi-immortals how they were called.

Jun Li had discovered it when she had been twelve and a terrible injury had killed her. When she had waken up nine hours later, she had been shocked but she had quickly seen the advantages. She also knew her weakness and she was pretty sure that no one would ever try to stab her with a leek.

* * *

><p>"…that's bad," Jade stated as she saw the red flashes coming closer and closer. "They hired some really strong killers, damn! Um …Roy… I need to try something … cover me for a second, will you?"<p>

She never waited for an answer. She ran forwards, avoiding multiple lethal attacks by dancing around like a ballerina who knew the choreography by heart. Her palms connected and her body started to glow white. Even Roy who hadn't seen her fighting in fifteen years knew that this skill was extremely dangerous – for the attacker and Jade likewise. As the light was brighter than anything else, her hands separated and a focused air stream cut the weapons of their opponents apart and hurt their limbs immensely.

"What the hell was this strange attack?" Roy asked while he caught Jade who tumbled a little bit.

"Air Arrow," she shrugged. "I never used it before … it always seemed to be a little overpowered but I think that this situation was dangerous enough to use this freaking technique. It requests more concentration from me than all of my other skills, so I never thought about using it…"

"That was extremely strong!" he said while he looked at the men who had been taken out by this single attack. "I knew that you are an awesome fighter and that your strength is hardly matched by anyone who hasn't the same experience … but that was a new impression…"

"Phil and I aren't on DD99 because of our lacking skills," Jade said. "We are part of the elite … and we would never hesitate to erase someone who happens to be in our way."

DD (Danger Degree) was something just the low-levelled superheroes really bothered because their low skills usually bothered them immensely. Higher-levelled superheroes never showed interest because they didn't have to: a simple attack of them would prove everyone how dangerous they were. Roy knew that it had bugged Jade and Phil for years that they were still some levels beneath him but back then, they had been DD91 and no one had ever understood how it could bother them that much. Now they had worked hard on their skills and came dangerously close to DD100 which Riza and Roy both held due to their extremely strong skills. There were few heroes who were even more dangerous like Jade's parents who could destroy a whole country without any effort. Fortunately, they were both pacifists.

"Oh, I always wanted to kill someone with such a high level," a calm voice announced as a man in a white suite appeared in the hall. "And such a beautiful young lady … such a waste … I should make you my slave. I am sure that I could enjoy that…"

Riza growled and stepped forwards while she connected her palms. "I knew that you were insane, Kimblee, but you don't mess with my family and get away with it," she hissed. "That is just not happening. Really, who do you think you are? You should know your place by now!"

"And you should know, Hawk Girl, that no one can get between me and my prey," Kimblee replied with a little bow. "Isn't it always the same? You will fight and lose everything to me…"

"…as much as I usually enjoy those reunion scenes, Kimblee, you overstepped some borderlines no one is ever supposed to cross!" a female voice yelled out and everything in the room became colder than ice. Victoria's flames started to burn a little brighter to protect the girl against the cold and Roy grabbed Jade and Riza's arms to pull them into a hug that was supposed to protect them too.

Among the heroes with the skill to manipulate an element, there were always some who mastered it on a far higher level than the others. And Nerissa had mastered the manipulation of ice on such a high level that it was a joke among her fellow heroes that even her blood was frozen. Her voice was enough to make a shiver ran down Kimblee's non-existent spine and goose bumps appeared on his skin.

"Ice Bird…" he whispered as he raised his hands at her. "You … you will go down…"

"Oh, I highly doubt that," she replied casually while she stepped into the room. "You never got me before."

"There is still someone missing," the man said as he looked around. "We have Firebird who never knew when the flames became too hot to handle.  
>We have Storm Girl who is still the same airhead than before her coma.<br>We have Hawk Girl who could let my brain explode if that wouldn't go against her personal rules.  
>We have Ice Bird who is as beautiful and lethal as ever.<br>Oh, we even have the little girl who could be a problem as soon as she gets the power to control herself." He tapped his chin. "Airhead's parents are still far away … Hawk Girl's relatives should be still in their retirement or in their cells since nothing should have made them escape from their blissful ignorance. And still … I miss one member of the old gang…" He looked over his shoulder. "Or is it really your aura I spot there, Black Swan?"

"Wrong as usual," a calm male voice said as the aerugian superhero Claudio stepped into the room. "I need to thank you all. The turbulences from the fights woke me up from the slumber I was put into…"

Jade's reaction was … strange to say the least. She tumbled backwards until her back hit the wall and her face went pale in seconds before she closed her eyes as old, forcefully suppressed memories started to resurface. She slapped herself and inhaled deeply as she forced them back. She would deal with it later.

"That's too bad…" Kimblee muttered as he looked at Claudio. "We had some trouble with putting you in your sleep … and usually nothing but a fight very close to you should have wakened you…"

"It was a strangely familiar aura," the brunette man shrugged. "Something I felt before but not quite…"

Riza sighed deeply as she stepped forwards once more. "There are some skills I never wanted to use for real," she said while she removed her scarf and stretched her hands before they gripped her throat. "I advise everyone else to cover his or her ears because that could be really ugly for you too."

Claudio's eyes widened. "I think I know what you are plotting," he said, "and I will back you up."

She just nodded before a long but strangely soundless tune escaped her mouth.

The melody was powerful and Roy felt how the air around them vibrated while he understood. The soundless song was manipulating the skills of every other present person – and as usual, Jade's ability reacted from the start. As powerful his cousin was, her skill depended usually somehow on the skill of someone else – most of the time her little brother. Nerissa was the next. Huge masses of ice appeared and surrounded Kimblee. Roy knew that his wife was staying away from his ability with purpose because that would have weakened the effect of her previous actions. But Victoria's whole body started to tremble as the girl's inner power started to react on the song that came from the two mentalists and the air cooled down even more around Roy and the rest of the others.

'Are you ready for the … _explosion_?' Claudio asked silently.

'Of course…' Riza replied while her song stopped as she focused her power in another way before a single word escaped her: _"Absolutio!"_

It was the most powerful skill a mentalist could possess and it always caused the destruction of the opponent's mind. Kimblee stumbled backwards and Riza understood that he hadn't noticed how she had never relied completely on the song they had used to grab the other's powers. All the time, she had sung a soundless song to attack his defences and she had destroyed it completely.

* * *

><p>Jun Li was thinking about blowing something up because she was more than annoyed. Usually, she had a high self-control but this time she was in a mood that would leave everyone dead if she would get a chance. She had transformed back into her usual shape and a part of her annoyance was caused by the fact that she had just ruined another black suit.<p>

Finally, she reached the cells and the guards were no challenge for her. She didn't even see the need to use her special power because her anger was more than enough to push her usual skill to unknown heights. Even the doors which had been strengthened over the years were no problem for her.

"…well, well…" a calm voice said from behind her. "It looks like the slave is still up and alive while her master is dying…" A low chuckle sounded through the dark hallway. "Maybe I should make it end…"

Jun Li was no coward. She had never run away. She had always chosen the risk to be injured over the change of being killed somehow because even if she knew that it wouldn't be forever, it would be painful. But this time, she felt an unknown fear.

Still, her dark sense for joking around was still present as she turned around to face her enemy. She laughed softly. "Ha, ha, ha … it doesn't really matter to me – I am already dead, Xia," she said.

Xia had been one of her oldest friends but time had changed their relationship to a point where none of them felt like she could live while the other one was still alive. Since forty years, they were frequently attacking each other, always with the goal to finally be the victorious person.

"You are dead?" Xia asked amused. "So I _was_ successful?"

"I died the first time before we even met," Jun Li stated casually. "And really, since when are you playing in the same league than Qiang? I expected a little bit more from you, Xia…"

"Oh, you misunderstand, _Jun-Jun_…" Xia said sweetly. "I don't work for these fools. I am here for my own, selfish reasons: I am here because I knew that you are here too. I wanted to kill you from behind at first but sadly, I am too honourable for something like that."

Jun Li sighed deeply. "If you hate me now, _Xi-Xi_…" she began calmly. "Don't forget: you made me what I am. It is your fault what I became, my dear friend…" She bowed ironically. "So … if you really hate me, you should hate yourself even more because you created me…"


	11. Chapter 11

The powers of the children were usually unstable. That was the reason why parents had the duty to make sure that their children wouldn't cause any destruction. But still, most of the time, the kids made a huge mistake when they were still really, really young. As an example: _Phil Mustang_, a superhero with the skill to manipulate air, didn't get a bar of chocolate at the age of two. As a result, the whole East Area had been hit by a huge tornado. Another example: _Nerissa Hamilton_, three years old, during the yearly family vacation, she froze up a whole lake because of a simple unfairness. _Olivier Armstrong_ – the swimming pools in the neighbourhood had been all frozen when she had hurt her knee and no one had noticed it at first. _Roy Mustang_: Izumi never forgave him for setting her hair aflame. _Kay Hamilton_: the blackout she caused by having a simple case of defiance had had terrible consequences for the whole country. _Jun Li_: piercing the nanny and nearly killing her wasn't something she was proud of. _Riza Hawkeye_: reading the thoughts of someone she didn't even know was disturbing.

There was a secret about everyone who was a hero … because none of them had been able to keep the own power in check when he hadn't understood it completely. As Berthold Hawkeye who had been one of the greatest heroes of his time had always said: "You cannot control something you cannot understand completely … because to need to feel it before you can create it."

Roy thought about the late hero's words of wisdom as he wondered why Victoria had already such a high control about her abilities. He had expected her to destroy far more but up to know, the destruction she brought was pretty much focused onto things they wanted to destroy, onto things that hindered them from leaving the scary tower behind once for all.

"Great job, Vicky," Jade said cheerfully as she allowed a bullet to go straight through her body.

"Even though you are impossible to get hurt because of the fact that you can turn your body into air, be a little bit more careful, Jade," Riza scolded the older woman. "You have to set a good example for Victoria after all … or do you want Lynn to come after you?"

The black-haired woman couldn't suppress a shudder. "Lynn is really scary when she's mad … I guess that I will be a careful superhero now – ouch!" she exclaimed as she crashed into Roy. "Why did you suddenly stop, you complete and utter moron?"

He turned around and eyed her suspiciously. "Riza is right, you know," he said quietly. "You and your brother … it's impossible for bullets to hurt you. You always turn your body into air when you enter a dangerous area … how for god's sake did you get injured and put into coma if the bullet wouldn't even have left a scratch under normal circumstances, Stormy?"

His cousin and former partner merely shrugged. "I cannot remember the day all too well," she said with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "If you remember: I had a fucking _bullet_ stuck in my skull. I don't know why I was shot or what the point behind the attack was. I just know that it hurt and that I spent eight years of my life in hospital because of this reason. If I remember, I'll tell you."

* * *

><p>Jun Li felt how her complete body vibrated from an unknown source of energy as she slowly made her way through the laboratory. She hated the feeling but she was too curious to ignore it and therefore, she was sneaking around in an enemy's base – completely disregarding anything her grandfather or her experience might have taught her, a long time ago.<p>

But she didn't care as she opened the last door where the wave of energy nearly threw her against the wall and so she was on her guard as she entered the room. In the middle of the laboratory was a dome filled with a blueish gel and in the middle of the globe was the motionless body of a young woman who seemed to be asleep or at least unconscious. Jun Li felt like she knew her … like she had known her for a very long time. The black hair and the pale skin formed a strong contrast to the destroyed yellow dress and the black pants which had been partially destroyed as well.

"Intruder detected," a cool voice said and only her reflexes saved the woman as she narrowly dodged the blade and twirled around. The man who had attacked her was taller than her and wore a red jacket with black pants. His eyes were hidden beneath an eye bind made of lead. Her own eyes widened as she realised that even with his disadvantage of being blind, he would be more than a match for her. She jumped back and conjured a layer of metal feathers on her right arm to defend herself against the next few attacks.

"A blind man as guard for a princess?" she asked as she stilled her movements, trying to avoid any notion which might tell him where she was standing. "That's completely pathetic. A guard has to see who he guards and who he is protecting her from. Everything else is downright ridiculous."

"I do not believe that my supposed blindness is a disadvantage," the man replied, stopping his movements for a moment. "I highly doubt that anyone would expect me to be able to protect her. But I will protect her … even though I will never be able to see her face again. And to be honest, I rather live without my sight and her smile than without her at all. I highly doubt that you ever had someone you would have sacrificed everything for … because you are new to the pain of a loss. I have lost many people I care for … but I refuse to leave her as well."

"This is very honourable and therefore, I would rather fight you in a fair fight," Jun Li said as she moved into her oldest stance because she had a feeling that she would have to return to the roots she had abandoned a long time ago. "Take off this ridiculous eye bind, man. We fight this out."

"While I greatly appreciate your attempt to make this fair, I have to decline," he said. "I am just another prisoner and … my gift includes my eyes and so they are hidden. I am unable to remove this … and therefore, I will have to fight you without my eyes. I am sorry to disappoint you but I am not afraid to face death in order to fulfil my duty. I won't let her down … because I promised."

"If you were both arrested, why are you fighting me anyway?" the woman asked as she crossed her arms as an old memory resurfaced. She remembered her childhood, her roots. She had been happy as a child because she had been allowed to fight every fight all out because back then, there had been no restrictions for heroes like her. And back then, she had been one of the best.

"Because you are not the first one who comes to search for the Heavenly Eyes," he replied as he touched the source of his disadvantage. "I am capable of protecting her and that's all I ever asked for. I do not care about power. I only seek enough power to fulfil my dream … the dream of seeing her happy and free one day. That's all I am asking for."

She conjured a knife capable of cutting through metal and jumped forward, slashing the lead of his eye bind before she dropped to her knees as she saw in a face that mirrored her on in a slightly twisted way. "Chao," she whispered as she refused to defend herself any longer. His sword fell to the ground as well as he kneeled down as well to accept the hand she held out to him.

"Jun Li," he replied as their fingers entwined once more. "I believed you to be dead by now."

She lowered her head as she stared at his beautiful, beautiful blue eyes which had been his curse and his blessing for nearly a century. Heavenly Eyes … Eyes that saw everything which happened, had happened or would happen in the smallest fracture of a second. The rarest among all abilities regarding the eyes and probably the most powerful as well because even Jun Li who had studied this gift out of jealously knew only Chao and Lan Fan as bearer of the Heavenly Eyes. Even though Black Swan herself was related to them and even though they had the same bloodline, she hadn't been chosen to possess the all-knowing eyes which contained nothing but raw power.

"In a way, I died many times between then and now," she said as she leaned her forehead against his shoulder. "But I cannot understand why you are here … why you allowed yourself to be caged … why you chose to give up on your eyes in order to be … here … protecting this girl…"

He sighed deeply. "It was less an actual decision than something that happened," he told her seriously as he looked at the dome and the blue light. "I chose to protect her on my own free will. It wasn't even a decision made out of love. It was a matter of doing the right thing … and I did this to fulfil the promise I made … I told her that I would be there when she would awake."

Chao Wei was a man of honour and duty, she knew this. But in all the years she had known him, he had rarely admitted that he really cared about another person. He had never seemed to be the kind of guy who would allow someone else to get close to him. He was ever so careful because he had been hurt badly many years ago, right before he had disappeared.

"I accept this explication … but you know that grandfather will make you talk," Jun Li sighed as she leaned against the wall. "Anyway, do you know how to get her out of this?"

"Yes," he nodded as he walked over to the spookily shining dome. "I know how to get her out of this … but I am not sure in which constitution she will be when we really free her. It has been a very long time since she was out of this … stuff."

She looked at him and felt the invisible wall. It hadn't been there before and she wished for it to disappear again. The silence radiating from him betrayed the difference in between his words and his actions. Back then, before everything had gotten so damned complicated, he had held her hand when she had slowly drifted asleep, fully aware of the nightmares that plagued her even though she would never admit it to anyone and much less to him … probably out of the strange ambition to look always strong in front of him.

"Free her anyway," she said softly as she turned her back at him – just like so many years ago, right before she had hid in Amestris and before he had disappeared. "We will figure something out. We always figured something out when it was necessary. So, please."

He sighed deeply and muttered something about how much he would regret listening to her again but then, he did it anyway because in the end, it wasn't of any meaning how much time passed between their meetings: he had never been able to deny her a wish and he would never be able to deny her a wish. It was an easy rule of the universe – and as inevitable as gravity.

The dome opened and let out a breeze before the gel vanished.

"It's not meant to have contact with oxygen," Chao explained with a shrug. "But it's the only currently known possibility to conserve a hero without risking his or her death. I am not sure how much I can trust the scientist who said this but I really hope that she will be alright. Everything else would defeat the purpose of me being here after all…"

The girl in the inside of the globe twisted around in midair a few times as her heart rate became faster again. The sound of her beating heart resounded in the whole room and Jun Li found herself impatient for the outcome of whatever Chao had just started.

He caught the girl as the effect of whatever crazy instrument those scientists had been using and after a terribly long moment, she opened her pale blue eyes.

"I … I am back?" she asked as she looked up at him with the most caring gaze Jun Li had been witness of in the last few years. "I … I am really, seriously back, Chao?"

He nodded. "You have been asleep for a very long time," he stated. "I will fill you in later … but first," he threw her over his shoulder, "we need to get out of her, fast."

* * *

><p>"This is the dumbest idea we ever had, Olivier," Maes stated as he looked at the tower-like building beneath them. "And I highly doubt that 'let's go in, let's destroy everything in sight and disappear again' qualifies as a real plan. It seems to be pretty foolish to me."<p>

"I think it's funny," Lynn said cheerfully. "And they kidnapped my daughter. I think that the total destruction of this place is the best idea Olivier had in a _very_ long time. We should go in, _now_."

"When Lynn agrees, it has to be a decent plan," the blond woman said with a wide smirk. "Or are you scared, Maes? Because if you are, I am sure that Gracia won't mind…"


	12. Chapter 12

"…we made a crucial mistake!" Lan Fan suddenly exclaimed as she got onto her feet in the facture of a second. "It's not 7S we should be wary of. There is someone in the background … and this person pulls the strings … someone who knows everyone pretty well…"

"…well enough to calculate the actions of the strongest among us, yeah," Edward agreed.

"Jun … grandfather…" the black-haired girl dropped to her feet. "Even Olivier-san…"

"There, cry," he said as he awkwardly patted her shoulder. "You don't have to act as if you had your sister's heart and body made of steel. Cry for a while – and then, we will leave."

"What about Alphonse and Ling?" she asked as she wiped away a stray tear from her cheek.

"They are both asleep … and we have the moment of surprise on our side. This means that we can win even without them. Don't doubt your own strength, Lan Fan. You are not as weak as you believe yourself to be. You have the Heavenly Eyes even though you hardly use them. That gives us a realistic chance to win and save all of them at once!"

It had always been strange with her. The life in banishment had changed her, had made her tougher and less vulnerable but she had never stopped being a little bit scared because so many times, her life had played out to be cruel and anything but agreeable. Still, she knew that she had to carry on even with all the pain on her shoulders because this was how she could prove her strength to those who were still in doubt about her skill.

"Very well," she said as she brushed back her hair. "Let's go, Elric. We will leave behind whatever used to be and move into the future. Even with the fall of my family and even with the pain of a life in banishment, we will find a way to save them all this time around."

He looked at her and realised that she was still the same girl he had teased so many years ago, just before the banishment had begun. Neither pain and fear nor anger and tears had taken away the things that had always made her herself. She brushed away the thin threads of Ling's old yellow jacket which were on her own, black jacket and laced her boots properly before she opened the window and sighed deeply.

"Here goes nothing," Edward said as he stepped over to the window as well. "I believe that we are already thinking of the same person, wouldn't you agree, Lan-Lan?"

She nodded. "Yeah," she said. "I think that everything is connected … the attack against Storm Girl so many years ago is connected to the attacks against Serena and Hakon. Everything was probably planned by the same person. We need to take out this person."

"I always liked the way you come up with plans."

* * *

><p>Olivier flew backwards and glared at her next opponent as she saw him in front of her.<p>

"Olivier Armstrong also known as the Ice Queen … you will die here," the man clad in shadows said. "You have been a bother long enough and it is time that you finally pay the price for your sins, bitch!"

She saw the attack approaching her and since she didn't have the speed of Helena or Jun Fan/Jun Li, she knew just too well that she wouldn't be able to dodge this. For a second, she regretted that she had been dumb enough to head straight into this mess even though she had known better but then, she felt how someone grabbed her shoulder and jumped away, dragging her along.

"There was an order, remember?" a familiar voice stated amused. "That was the order not to die."

"Catalina … Rebecca Catalina," Olivier muttered as she looked at the brown-haired woman. "I am surprised to see you here. I thought that you and Jean were wrecking havoc somewhere else…"

"We got a call from the old headquarters and were informed that the old gang is having an all-out war with our sinful friends," the faster heroine shrugged. "That's why we cancelled the last few weeks of our honeymoon and came to your rescue. Jean is getting Roy and the others out of this mess. Damn, you guys didn't even notice that they played you like cards. And I was told that you are the smartest and most skilled heroes at the moment … and yet, you didn't understood anything! Hell, didn't you ever wonder why all the attacks were perfectly timed?"

"I wasn't aware that you changed from battle to investigation," the blond woman said as she fired a salve of icicles against her current opponent. "Well, I knew that you aren't stupid but I never thought that you were the first one to look underneath the obvious…"

"Technically, Jean and I have been searching the truth behind the truth for a long time," Rebecca said as she brushed back a rebellious strand of her hair. "We got suspicious when Storm Girl was assassinated eight years ago. She is one of the brightest and nearly impossible to defeat which is the reason for her current ranking so there had to be either someone far smarter than her and this would be really freaky or someone who knows her and could predict her actions precisely."

"Maes would be jealous of this brilliant deduction," the Ice Queen said slowly. "Yes, but there is no one to know Jade like this … we all know that she is a greedy bitch who is deadly afraid of the possibility that someone might figure out her secrets. I guess that even Roy and Phil only get half the things she does on a regular basis because she doesn't even tell them."

"If there was someone she trusted when she was young and naive – not that anyone of us would be able to remember this time – this person might know. Jade shows the classical signs of a person who was betrayed once … and I would marry Breda if this person wouldn't be identical with the person who is behind this complete mess," Rebecca said darkly. "Jade isn't perfect – she said so many times herself … and sometimes I nearly felt as if she could perfectly relate to those who were betrayed by Clockworker…"

"If you were right about this, this wouldn't answer any questions," Olivier said slowly. "True, Jade showed far more sympathy towards those who were directly betrayed by Clockworker than I and everyone else expected her to … but why should she of all people have a connection. Jade had always only a gift regarding the element air … she shouldn't have been interested in the manipulation of time … and this was what Clockworker excelled in – and this was the promise she gave all of those she lured into her trap. Jade shouldn't have been involved in this shady business."

"Too bad that we can hardly ask," Rebecca shrugged. "Jade dislikes talking about herself after all."

"Yes, yes…" Olivier said absentmindely as she directed her palms at the floor to create an ice carpet. "This should keep them busy for a while … could we ask Phil about Storm's connection to Clockworker? Usually, the guy knows everything about his older sister…"

"But even if he were to know, he would never tell on her," the brunette woman sighed as she used her speed to avoid another attack and to deliver a blow. "That would be against his strict codex to protect her secrets until she reveals them herself … or until the worst case enters."

The blonde sighed deeply. "Why I am the only one with a dysfunctional relationship with my brother and my siblings in general?" she complained.

* * *

><p>Hakon Buccaneer had never been a man of many words. He had also never been big at showing many emotions but he had always cared a lot about Serena – probably because she was able to understand him even without any words. He loved her a lot and therefore, there wasn't a question in his mind when he saw the sword approaching Serena's body. To shield the woman he loved and the child they had created together with his own body seemed to be the right thing to do.<p>

"H-Hakon!" she exclaimed but her words sounded strangely pained.

"Oh, didn't I mention that the sword extends?" their attacker smirked cruelly. "Well, it does. And that's why I got both of you pierced like two extremely ugly butterflies."

"S-Serena…" Hakon muttered as he looked over her shoulder. "Sorry that it has to end like this."

"Don't apologise," she whispered as she attempted a pained smile. "It's okay. You tried. I … I really appreciate the thought and your noble intention."

"Yes, the both of you deserve a huge star with 'You tried' on it because this is all you ever did. You tried to beat us. You tried to warn the others. You didn't achieve anything in your pathetic lives."

Serena looked at him as she still smiled. "We achieved a lot of things," she said. "We managed to find love … even thought it seems so pointless to you, it mattered to us."

* * *

><p><strong>Journal of Ghost Woman<strong>

**Entry #2045**

_Some call me foolish because I still rely on my so-called powers. I call them fools because they have no idea what I can do when I really want to do something. On the other hand, I seem to be the only one among us who really understood the most crucial fact about the powers we were born with: no one of us can control them completely – because we still don't understand __**why**__ it happens. While I think that it's pretty cute how everyone deludes himself/herself into believing that he/she has complete control over his/her powers. That's ridiculous and arrogant … and yet I still think that it's kinda cute of them to be this optimistic._

_Anyway, I need to go now – the stage awaits me._

_Ghost Woman logging off._

* * *

><p>Gracia looked straight at her opponent before she unleashed her own power. "I … I am very disappointed," she told him quietly as her skill slowly made its way into the man's brain. "After all the things I did to you … for you to betray me like this…"<p>

She was one of those who were quite gifted at messing with her opponent's mind and even great fighters such as Abigail Mustang shuddered when they fought of this ability. Technically, it was a pretty easy and seemingly very weak gift but those who had taken the time to analyse it had understood that there was nothing simple about this ability. Gracia was Mom. She had the essence of being a mom down to a t and she used this against her opponents in a way that was scary even to seemingly emotionless people like Nerissa or Olivier.

Jade who stood nearby, recovering from a complicated pattern of air attacks and her usual martial arts skills smirked beneath the higher collar of the uniform she wore now, after her complete recovery which had taken far longer than she had expected it too take. She had learned that it was smarter not to mess with Gracia when she had been under her care – and when words like "get up and make your bed, you have training to do" had been her daily wake-up call and had been followed by "aren't you cold/hot in that outfit?", "I won't let you go outside until you ate your breakfast and took the vitamins Doctor Rockbell ordered you to take", "Listen to me when I am talking to you" and "I am only trying to help you".

Jade sighed as she remembered the torture she had put under when she had been recovering from eight years of sleep. Roy had been cruel but she had expected this because he had been pushed around by her for years and so he had seen the chance to pay her back for all the little cruelties she had brought upon him when they had trained together in their youth. Riza had been kinder, still thankful for her calm behaviour when the blonde had been taken hostage but the others had been hell as well. And Gracia had been among those who had made her suffer the most.

"Aren't you taking this a little bit too far?" Roy inquired as he looked at his best friend's wife. "I only mean … he is sobbing and apologising, Gracia. This should be enough."

She shrugged. "I am more or less surprised that I haven't lost my edge," she replied amused.

"The last few years were straining for all of us … but it's still no surprise that you kept your power, Gracia," Olivier said as she leaned against a wall, observing Jade quite intently. "You have been raising children after all and your ability is quite … educational."

Rebecca snorted as she tried too hard not to laugh. "Anyway, we should get the hell out of here," she stated. "If my prediction is right, we are currently at the most wrong place on this planet."

"What do you mean, Catalina?" Roy asked as he frowned at her.

"She means that they were just puppets, used by someone of greater intellect," Olivier explained with a snort. "Technically, we only saw what we wanted to see … and that's why we probably just messed up our only realistic chance to be reinstated as heroes. We should gather and regroup – fast. I have a bad feeling about this complete situation right now."

"I agree," Riza said as she looked around. "This place … I don't like it – at all."

Heavy footsteps were to be heard as a bloodied Serena appeared on top of the staircase. Her superhuman strength allowed her to carry the man who had been pierced by the same sword that stuck in her own body. "I am so … sorry … Olivier," she whispered as she swayed. "I couldn't save him … or myself. I am so sorry … I am sorry for failing the faith you had in me…"

"Serena – what the hell just happened?" Jade asked as she stepped forward, staring at the sword.

"Don't remove it, Jade," Lynn who just landed screamed as she slid over the bloodied ground until she somehow managed to stop in front of her sister. "Now, now you can remove it. I cannot heal the wound at the current point of my power but … Roy, burn the wound close. That's an order and I will _fucking_ murder you if you let my sister die on your watch."

"Are you fucking crazy, woman?" the fire user asked as fire surrounded his fists. "I cannot burn a friend's skin like this, you fool! What if … what if I go too far and burn too much?"

"In her current state, the probability of her survival is already low," Lynn stated coldly. "And I am personally pretty sure that Serena takes a few burn scars over an untimely death any day."

"Roy," Riza looked at him with an expression of hope and despair. "Please, do this."

"So, it is your wish?" the black-haired man asked. "You want me to burn her back … knowing the risk that she might die … and the possibility that she might have welcomed death like a lost friend after Hakon was obviously killed? Very well, but it will be your fault when she hates me afterwards. I don't want to be to blame for this one too."

* * *

><p>"…okay, this looks exactly like I expected it to look like," Edward whispered as he crossed his arms. "What do you say, Lan-Lan? Let's simply break down this gate and get the job done, right?"<p>

"According to my grandfather, it's never as easy as it sounds," she said cheerfully.

"And why exactly do you sound so damn happy about the fact that we might die?"

"Because, according to Jun-nee, there is always the realistic chance that a miracle will happen … and if this were the case, we would survive and get a higher DD," she stated with a shrug. "Seeing that we would die anyway if we wouldn't do anything, the possibility that we might get promoted sweetened this mission for me – a lot."

"I forgot how career-oriented you always used to be," he sighed as he stared back at the gate. "Say, shall I kick down this insult to all the gates back home or do you want to do this?"

"I think that my sister would be very disappointed with me if I would allow you to kick down this gate," she said softly. "Jun-nee spent years on proving that men and women are equally strong. She would give me hell for allowing you to prove your strength now."

"When exactly did you become so focused on what Jun Fan thinks?"

"I realised that I have still a far way to go until I reach her state of wisdom," she replied. "I learned that sometimes, it's smarter to listen before you start to speak. I believe that's just like my sister told you when you were a bratty kid – before you can make other people kneel, you have to kneel yourself. It's a matter of earning respect and experience instead of taken it for granted."

"If you say so…" he said as he stepped back. "The gate is yours, Lady Wei."

She laughed as she took a step back. She didn't have her sister's ability to turn parts of her body into metal even though she really believed this to be an awesome ability. Her ability was similar but completely different. Instead of becoming metal, she covered herself in metal which made it easier for her to move and dodge. The gate was smashed to bits at the impact of her metal-covered fist and she smirked. "Well, so I didn't get rusty," she said amused.


	13. Chapter 13

The young woman called Xia was hurrying through the hallways of the huge building as the wall next to her shattered and fell apart. Behind the hole in the wall stood, calm and mature as always, no one else but Meimei Cho, a Xingese heroine with an ability to destroy everything in sight.

Meimei had not changed along the last few years. She was as beautiful and dangerous as always as she kicked away a brick from the wall and she did not even turn her head as the aforementioned brick crashed through a window.

"You are here to finish business, aren't you?" Xia asked tiredly. "In the end, you will forever be a loyal servant to the Wei-clan and thus, it is no surprise for me that you tracked me down."

"Actually, I didn't come to defeat you," Meimei replied as she braided her long hair. "But since I still got some space left on my agenda, I can do this now just as well. Say, Xia, how much did Clockworker pay you to take out my students?"

"Not enough but the thrill was probably part of the payment," the other woman shrugged. "I am surprised that you are the first one to realise that I am the one who had the biggest benefit."

"I am probably the only one who has no blocked memories," Meimei said. "And thus I am the only one who remembered your hatred for the Wei-clan. You did a great job, I am sure that many believed that you and Jun Li had a friendly rivalry. I remember the times you fought to the death."

"You fucking bitch, Cho!" Xia yelled at she charged at the younger woman. "I told Clockworker to make sure that your fucking memory would be erased. You always acted like a damned airhead but I knew that you were someone who watched … someone who kept both eyes open."

"Hence my position among the Observers, yes," Meimei said as she straightened her emerald kimono-styled jacket. "I never meant to fight a great member of the Xingese Guard but I cannot allow you to betray all of us and get away with it. You endangered the Heavenly Eyes – do you even know what might have happened if Clockworker had actually managed to turn either Chao-sama or Min Li-chan against us? They are the last ones who mastered the Eyes after all…"

"You are a smart one, _Meimei-chan_, but sadly … you were never smart enough. You might believe that it will be easy for you to defeat me but you have been gone for too long."

"Like I said before: I have no intention to fight you here and now," Meimei said unimpressed as she passed Xia. "I am here to pick someone up. We will settle this, don't worry, but not here."

"The same arrogance was what made you fall years ago," the other woman said. "You are no longer the Star of Xing, the brightest among us."

* * *

><p><strong>Headquarters of Tempest Engineering<strong>

**Eight years earlier**

* * *

><p><em>A brunette woman hurried through the hallways of the modern building, looking around and sighing as a young man, obviously bored, followed her as she cursed under her breath.<em>

_"Yo, Ghosty, why are you even that mad? The boss knows what she's doing – at least half the time," he yawned as he followed her. "I mean, it's not even like we got an important meeting or anything. She's just skipping work – that is the same thing she always does."_

_"But we got so many things to do!" the woman snapped as she pushed open another door. "I know that she is a very busy woman, especially with all the stuff going on right now, but we need to get through with those projects – otherwise, we will be discovered as … not-humans."_

_"Ghosty…" he sighed as he shook his head. "You are overreacting. Miss Tempest's not-so-diligent attitude will actually help us to seem absolutely human. Let her be, Ghosty, okay? I will treat you with dinner if you stop searching her now. We can finish the project without her, right?"_

_"Nice try to get me to go out with you, dear," she said with a smirk. "But I have to decline once more because you are still not my type. Sorry, but I am just saying the truth."_

_"Well, well – my most faithful partners!" a cheerful voice exclaimed as their superior appeared, the black hair braided neatly and her smile was as bright as it was carefree. "I am sorry for running out on you again but the fool who calls himself my brother messed something up and I had to take care of it … I am sorry, though. I won't run out on you again anytime soon, I promise."_

_"Don't make a promise you cannot keep, Miss Tempest," the brunette said. "We understand."_

_"Still, I am sorry for letting you down," the boss apologised as she led the way to an office where the stacks of paper formed neat pillars while empty mugs stood on the desks. This was the office where the future was planned – for heroes and normal people likewise._

_The trio went back to work as if the interruption had never happened and after a few minutes, the usual atmosphere returned and for half an hour, everything seemed close to perfect. The illusion ended however when a pager beeped twice._

_"That's mine," the black-haired woman said with a grin. "Looks like I am needed out there."_

_The woman who had been called Ghosty by her co-worker made a hasty move towards the door, opening the first few buttons of her blouse, revealing a grey suit._

_"Uh-hu, Jane," the other woman smiled. "That's dangerous. I'll go alone. I see you tomorrow."_

_But the next morning, the office was deserted when the both other heroes arrived and when a distressed Philippe Tempest arrived, they learned that Jade Mustang-Tempest was in a coma after being shot from behind the day before._

* * *

><p>"I wasn't aware that you were still alive," Jun Li stated as she helped Chao to carry the girl out of the headquarter which the 7S had used for multiple years. They had gotten the message that they would retreat and regroup from Rebecca and therefore, they were currently walking as fast as they could, considering that Chao had taken quite a few minor injuries along the last few years and that Min Li was not capable of walking again yet.<p>

"It had to be a secret," he replied tiredly. "Anyone who remembered me would have remembered me as the master of the Heavenly Eyes and as Min Li's protector. I was in no state to defend myself from any attacks until the moment when we were freed. We would have both fallen into the hands of evil people."

"How was the situation in Xing before you were taken?" she inquired.

"The Observer of Xing did a very good job, nearly protected the whole country on her own. She was a dear friend of Min Li and visited often. When the village was attacked, she was gone because of an issue in the capital … as you remember: Xing banned the heroes long before Amestris did the same thing," he replied. "Therefore, the situation was quite … complex, even years ago. Meimei Cho was an impressive member, even all those years ago, and I believe that her skill grew as she got more and more experienced."

"Nice and charming, as usual," the young woman in question said as she helped him to carry Min Li. "I am sorry for being this damn late but it was extremely busy lately … the government kept me very busy since **that day**."

* * *

><p>"Technically, your strategy was perfect. You used my weakness against me. You both did your homework and you both realised that speed is the weakness all of us share … because our techniques and abilities require a firm stance. With the exception of Victoria, you would really get all of us by being simply faster," the blond woman said as she brutally kicked Lan Fan into the side. "It is nearly sad that two young and ambitious heroes will die here … just because they forgot about one thing: whoever decides how fast time passes by can also make all the rules."<p>

"You … you bitch," Lan Fan hissed and coming from her, this was a grave insult. "You also were the one to shoot Jade and to frame The 7S, am I right? You have been using The Alliance and The 7S against each other so that no one saw the real danger: you."

"The realisation is a little bit too late but yes, you are right, Wei-girl," the woman smirked. "But if you and Elric want to live for another eight minutes, you shouldn't get so mad. With the higher blood pressure will only quicken the poison in your body. Still, I will tell you a nice little story, yes? It's a bedtime story – only that you will never wake up once I finished. Anyway, once upon a time, there was a woman who was incredibly smart. She was, however, never acknowledged because her younger brother happened to be far more charismatic and therefore, she vowed to make the world remember her name – if violence would be necessary, well, you can't win them all. And so this insanely brilliant woman went and assassinated the people who might be smart enough to realise that she was behind all the attacks. The first one to die was a crazily smart heroine who had an air ability which made it difficult to kill her but finally, the genius managed to understand the ability to turn the complete body into a technically absolutely safe state and killed the woman. Afterwards, it was pretty easy. The brother fell swiftly after the banishment … did I mention that this woman is also responsible for this one?"

Lan Fan gritted her teeth as she tried to grab one of her weapons from her belt with her uninjured arm which she tried not to move to slow down the poison. If necessary, she would sacrifice her arm to win this battle but she needed her stupid kunai for this. "Elric," she snapped at him. "Pass me my kunai, will you? I don't want to die here and that's why I have to make some sacrifices."

He looked over his shoulder and extended his uninjured arm before he managed to grab the weapon she had asked for. "Do whatever you have to do – but do it fast," he ordered strictly.

She nodded as she twirled the kunai around her finger – before she cut off her own arm. She let out a pained gasp because it hurt far more than she had expected it to. "Ouch," she muttered as she dropped the kunai to grab the stump of her arm. "That hurt a lot more than the last injury…"

"Oh, sacrificing your own arm to avoid the poison won't help you. You are too weak to run away now, Lan Fan," Clockworker said as she approached them. "You are a loser, Wei, useless to me and everyone else. I will leave you two here to die, little one."

A sharp jab to her chin sent her flying away as a young man lowered his arm again. He brushed away his black hair as he crossed his arms. "You okay, Elric and Wei?" he asked calmly.

"Philippe Mustang Tempest," the young man said as he held the bleeding stump of his arm. "I have not seen you in a very long time … I thought that you quit fifteen years ago…"

Philippe Mustang alias Storm Man had been a legend for the longest time of Edward's life. He was the younger brother of Jadelina Mustang, Storm Girl, had been capable of defeating single-handily various rogue heroes and had filled the cells of the prison for fallen heroes.

"First of all, I never quit – and why should I have quit fifteen years ago? That was the best time for me … the most glorious time of my career so I ask you why should I have quit back then?"

"Well, wasn't that the time when your sister was nearly killed?" Lan Fan asked as she got back to her feet, holding her destroyed arm. "I would have expected you to have quitted twelve years ago … Jade was the most important person in your life and mine."

"Okay, sweeties, Jade was shot eight years ago," Philippe corrected as he smashed Clockworker against a wall. "I don't know how you managed to mess this up, Lan Fan, because she was your teacher. I got a question … did you take the check-up the government ordered you to take?"

Both teenagers nodded slowly.

"Damn…" Phil said slowly. "That's how they got you, isn't it? Damn … that will make it harder."

* * *

><p>To have a body that was not yours, to have a body that did not keep up with your mind was probably the most aggravating situation Victoria could imagine. It was not cool or awesome, no matter what stupid movies suggested. It was a pain and extremely annoying – especially when your body was not able to contain her power. She had never been one to hold back her anger about those things but no matter how much she raged against the invisible chains that held her down, she could not enlarge her body because if her limiter was anything, this would be diligent and thoroughly.<p>

She had been separated from her friends and family and felt like she was the last one left in the building. She had the appearance of a fragile little girl, weak and vulnerable but the mind of a young woman, strong and unfaltering, nearly impossible to defeat and absolutely impossible to unite those two sides.

"There's the girl!" a uniformed man yelled as he ran after the redhead. "Hey – stop, girly!"

She looked over her shoulder before she created a huge wave in between her hands and moved in for the attack before a second man grabbed her collar and pressed a gun against her temple. "You are not supposed to be here, little miss," he said as he carried her down the hallway. "But since you were kind enough to stay, we will call your parents to ask how much they want to pay for you, Little Miss Hawkeye. I am sure that your mommy will pay a lot of money." He grabbed her collar as he dragged her to a little cell. "Don't worry, little one, this prisoner has been nearly neutralised anyway. He means no harm at the moment."

She refused to struggle as she was thrown into the cell because she did not see much of a reason to fight. She had been overpowered and right now, she was no real match for anyone. Her powers were mostly sealed and why should she risk a fight which she would lose? She would wait for her family to come and save her – because she could not save herself for obvious reasons at the moment.

* * *

><p>Lynn bit her lower lip as she stared at Jade's back. Her best friend had just left the shower and stood in the guest room of Kay's mansion only in her underwear and her pale skin sported a huge assortment of bruises, cuts and other injuries. But this had been to be expected because if Jade got hurt, she had many injuries afterwards.<p>

"You need help, I guess," Lynn said as she moved in the room. "Sit down and try not to squirm too much when I patch you up a little bit, yes?"

"You are too good to me, Lynn," Jade said as she rested her forehead against the wall. "It's such a fucked-up situation anyway, isn't it? Vicky has been taken and we can't move."

"That's why it's good that you are back again, Jade," Lynn said as she tightened a lose bandage. "Without you, I would have gone insane for sorrow and worries by now."

She smiled at her dearest friend. Jade had been always her darker side, the one that bathed her hands in blood if necessary and yet, she meant the world to the silver-haired woman. Lynn was the moon to Jade's night, the only ray of light in the other woman's darkness. Along the years, they had started to depend on each other more than they depended onto their respective siblings and Lynn had often felt how she felt new courage when a slight breeze touched her skin when she was fighting, even when Jade had been in the hospital and when it had been impossible – even for Storm Girl – to move the air.

And even though it had hurt, Lynn had visited her friend in the hospital even after Roy had been no longer able to stand the sight of the fallen heroine.

"Well, I had always a decent timing," Jade snorted before she coughed up blood once more. "It is pathetic anyway. I come home and everything has changed. No offence, Lynn, but I had expected more of you and your Punch of Justice…"

"I think that we should have worked on a Plan B before you left for that warehouse – or you could have least have waited for me," Lynn said drily as she applied pressure onto a still bleeding wound. "Seriously, it was boring without you around."

"I hoped as much," Jade grinned. "I mean, I thought that we wanted to leave for this awesome trip to Drachma together … and there you went and let me all alone…"

There had never been a single lie in between of them – mostly because on one side, Jade was a terrible liar while she had a keen ability to sense lies on the other side. And they had been a team for a short time after they had become friends, back then when Roy and Phil had told Jade that she could be no longer part of their team because she was a girl. Three weeks and many failed missions later, they had been on their knees to beg for her return.

"I think that I was merely trying my best to keep the business going after you fell victim to whatever attacked you in that warehouse," Lynn said. "It was a painful time for all of us. Roy didn't even make his stupid jokes anymore … Phil left instantly for Drachma with Bendix … and so I don't think what anyone ever got over it."

"Well, I really managed to keep up my usual business," the slightly arrogant voice of Nerissa called out as she appeared in the doorway. "But then again, I was never one to pack up my things and go home when I was faced with the risk of losing something or someone. If anything, I used difficult times to prove myself as a _superior_ warrior."

"Superior warrior? Are you fucking kidding me, birdie?" Olivier snapped as she stabbed her elbow into the other blonde's side. "But then again … even though it's hard to say this … it's nice to have you back in our team … Nerissa."

"One day you will be able to say this without sounding forced, Olivier," Lynn said cheerfully as she helped Jade into her regular black clothes. "But then again, I am not sure whether I will live to see this day … and at the current moment, I guess that I will be dead for at least a century when this day happens."

The both blond women huffed at each before they hurried over to Jade who was – to her greatest misfortune – good friends with both of them which had been the cause for war between the both ice users for the last few decades.

"Did Phil welcome you back already?" Nerissa asked as she combed Jade's wet hair.

"Or did he ignore you again, like the coward he is?" Olivier inquired as she held an ice pack to the black-haired woman's bruised cheek. "I told you that we have to deal with his issues – and that was more than ten years ago, Jadelina…"

"Is here everything okay?" Kay asked upon arriving in the doorway.

"Yes, yes," her sister sighed as she shook her head. "Nessa and Olivier are taking care of Jade for now … that means for me that I will check on Serena now…"

"Bad idea – Jun Fan, no, Jun Li is already there to patch up as much as she can patch up Mei's help," the redhead said with a shrug. "I didn't want to interfere even though I am pretty worried for the little one as well…"

"She hates it when you call her this, Kay," Lynn sighed as she shook her head.

"And that's exactly why I am doing it," the older sister replied. "When I annoy her, she will get mad and when she gets mad, she will get up again to fight."

* * *

><p><em>Phil leaned in swiftly and kissed Serena's forehead before he patted her shoulder and hurried over to where his sister stood, tall and calm as usual. "I just said goodbye to Rena, Jade, no reason to look at me just like I just committed a crime," he sighed.<em>

_"Adorable and pathetic, yes," his sister said drily. "If you like her, just give her a real kiss instead of all those cute forehead- and cheek-kisses. You aren't fooling anyone anyway."_

_"I could humour you and ask you a question now, Jade, but I guess that this would be quite dumb of me, knowing your preference for causing more trouble than necessary," he said amused before he slapped away her hand as her cold fingers gently tapped against the hickey on his neck. "May I ask what you are doing there, sister dear?" he asked, forcing himself to sound as nonchalant as possible which was difficult._

_"You are sleeping with Serena," she said drily as she held out a scarf. "There, wear this or deal with the questions Roy will ask. Goddamn, Phil, you are making everything more complicated than it has to be. Seriously, I love you, little brother, but to start an affair with Serena is the dumbest thing you have done in your entire life."_

_"Weren't you the one to say that you'd never judge anything I do as long as it makes me happy?" he inquired, looking straight ahead so that she could not have eye contact with him because he knew that she could read his eyes like open books._

_"You are right but … do not forget that you will leave one day," she said as she steered the car down the road, focusing on the street for once. "I just don't want you to end up as some sort of entirely perverted and pathetic heartbreaker … even if this might be something you are currently trying to achieve, little brother…"_

_"Are you seriously messing me up with Roy at the moment, Jade?" he snapped. "You have my word that I will never do anything to break Serena's heart. I care too much."_

_"To care for someone does not mean that you won't hurt this person," she replied smoothly. "You know that I am right, Phil. Love can be crueller than hate."_

* * *

><p>"Manipulated memories?" Roy echoed as he looked at Phil who sat on the couch, head lowered and hands on his knees. "What do you mean by this?"<p>

"That all of your memories could be false," Phil replied drily. "I feared as much … because Lan Fan usually would have known the length of Jade's coma. And all of this can mean only one thing: Clockworker got most of you and harmed you greatly."

"Who of us is … unharmed by this?" Riza asked as she rested her hands on Roy's tense shoulders. "I mean … if we were manipulated … how can we believe anything right now?"

"Scar should be unharmed but he disappeared years ago," Bendix said as he helped Jade to sit down on a chair, nonchalantly ignoring Olivier's deathly glare. "I cannot even say with utmost safety that I am unharmed. Phil filled me in with the important details and I can remember vague details from what used to be before that day when I went to the check-up … and we had a … secret word – from when we battled that deranged person that messed up memories. To hear this word again made me remember when Jade truly fell victim to the attack … but that made me wonder: why did they change that?"

"Because this was important … an important date to all of us – no offence, Jade, but after you left, everything fell apart," Olivier said, looking at her black-haired rival in love. It was complicated for her. She could have battled Nerissa for Miles' heart without batting an eye but to fight Storm Girl who had been her friend for so long was something entirely different because she never wanted to hurt Jade because hurting Jade was like hurting an innocent little kitten and even Olivier hated those who willingly hurt defenceless creatures.

Jade nodded as she looked at Roy. "But … shouldn't such an important date make it more likely that someone figures out that something is very wrong?" she inquired.

"We never talked about you after … it happened," Riza said quietly. "Everyone … it just hurt too much to remember that you were no longer there to taunt all of us."

"The only thing I'd like to know is … am I really over eighty?" Jun Li asked quietly.

"What – no!" Phil exclaimed. "You are about a year older than Olivier and Bendix!"

Jun Li grinned widely as she removed the old-fashioned yukata she had been wearing after returning from the shower she had taken. "That's good to hear," she said. "I was always wondering whether I'd be really stupid enough to get imprisoned for so many years again and again," she sighed as she folded her yukata neatly. "But I guess that they were scared of implanting too many false memories into my brain."

"We should do two things now," Lynn said as she got up. "Figure out what happened to Victoria and to get our hands onto something that restores our memories."

* * *

><p>Betrayal hurt. It set her stomach aflame and she wanted to scream out her rage to the world. But there was also the pain of knowing that they had blamed the wrong people. True, the 7S had never been innocent little angels but according to Phil's very dark prognosis, they had been used by someone else, by someone Riza knew just too well.<p>

She had wondered whether her aunt would truly be cruel enough to let Serena be harmed because Serena had been always the little angel, protected by everyone – especially by Nerissa. The brown-eyed woman knew the scars that marred Nerissa's skin and she knew that every single scar had come from an injury the icy woman had accepted as the price she had had to pay to protect her youngest sister.

But now, there was no new gash in Nerissa's skin, no new scar would appear even though Serena had been betrayed, even though Serena had been closer to death than to life a few hours ago.

Riza exhaled as she leaned against the wall. Their current situation could hardly be worse. Edward and Lan Fan had nearly died. Phil was maybe back after so many years but he was slightly injured as well and the news he had brought were terrible as well. Serena had nearly been killed as well and she had lost both her boyfriend and her unborn child.

Riza knew that her cousin would need time to heal but they would not have this time. Her hands surrounded the mug she had just emptied and it cracked before it shattered.

"You are mad, aren't you?" Jade asked, hair damp from the shower she had taken and a body wrapped into white bandages that shined brightly through her black clothes. "Just relax a little bit, Riza. We will fix this – well, at least everything we can still fix."

"Not everyone can rely on her memories right now. Not everyone can say that it will be better again," the blond woman said drily.

"We lost Hakon and this hurts – especially since Rena loved him," Jade agreed calmly. "But, she will recover from this as well."

"The way she recovered when Phil disappeared?" Riza snapped.

"I don't know anything about this," the black-haired woman replied calmly. "I never concerned myself with their relationship and you know that."

"You just didn't want to be involved."

"Would you want to be involved in that issue?"

"Touché," Riza admitted. "This was always messy, I know that … and I can understand your decision to stay out of this. Still, what will happen now?"

The older woman sighed deeply as she rested her forehead against the cold window. "We will wait," she said softly. "We will wait until the storm is over. I will wait until my brother talks to me about whatever he is up to now … about a solution for the memory problem…"

"He still has not talked to you?" Riza asked as her eyes widened. "You have not spoken in eight years and he refuses to talk with you now? Did he even welcome you back already?"

Storm Girl chuckled. "Don't act so scandalised and horrified, Riza, please," she said as she exhaled. "Phil and I have a very complicated relationship … with many complicated details that make it difficult for an outsider to understand why I am patient enough to wait for him to share his secrets with me. I don't have to know everything to follow him."

"Still, I expected him to say at least hello … I mean, he arrived more than twenty minutes ago … and Jun Li had him patched up ten minutes ago … where is he now, anyway?"

Jade's head mentioned towards another door. "He's in there," she said softly, her voice telling a story about her compassion with her brother and his sadness. "He means only well even though he hurts me again today," she whispered. "But … at the moment, I am not the biggest problem in his eyes … he worries about Serena a lot more than he worries about me … and I can accept that."

For a moment, Riza watched how the other woman left the room, obviously in pain and hardly able to move freely. This was the curse of Storm Girl. It was difficult to hit her because she was so damn fast but if she was hit, she was heavily injured quite often. In addition, a few of her attacks took a huge toll on her body and harmed her greatly.


	14. Chapter 14

Serena lay on her bed, fists clenched and jaw tightened as she stared at the ceiling. She was motionless and the tears of pain, loss and betrayal at dried on her face.

"Rena."

The voice was painfully familiar and for a moment, she considered to scream and cry because it hurt. He had been gone for eight fucking years and now he strolled back into her life just like he had never left in first place. A warm hand clasped hers and pried it open.

"Phil," she whispered.

"Long time no see, little one," he said as he sat down at her side, holding her hands. "I heard what happened … I am so sorry…"

"Of course," she snorted. "That's why you are back, right? You came back for me…"

"I haven't left while I was gone," he replied. "And I am so sorry about Hakon."

"You better be," she said as she sat up, holding onto his hands. "But please, smile, Phil. You look so gloomy … and so you are making me sad all over again."

"How do you feel, Serena?" he asked calmly.

"Physically well but emotionally torn," she replied. "It feels strange."

"Get up, Serena, we will fight now. Let go of all your restrain, your chains and your worries … and please, fight me seriously … at least this time."

"I just lost my partner and my child!"

"You always held back. That will get you killed one day, Serena."

"I can't fight at the moment," she said as she lifted the blanket to reveal the bloodied bandages around her stomach. "Roy and Lynn prevented the worst but … I will have to heal properly before I can get up to engage a fight with you again, Philippe."

He sighed deeply as he pressed his lips against her forehead. "Can I tell you why I left back then?" he asked as he played with her pale fingers. "It was not because of Jade or anyone else even though everyone assumed this … and to be honest, I was quite content with this as well. You know me … and you know how easily I can get unsure once I start to think about my actions and realise that I have no idea what I am doing in first place."

"I know you too well sometimes, yes," she said as she remembered the feeling of his lips against hers. It had been years ago, long before she had gotten together with Hakon, shortly before he had left for whatever mission he had been on all those years. But this was Phil and she had never been able to let go of him completely. Half the time, he had been a total jerk to her, forgetting to call her because he was busy (which he had been without a doubt because he was Phil and Phil had worked always overtime) and only had had the time to stop by when Jade had been in the hospital or had least slightly injured (which had happened quite often). And when he had not been a jerk, he had been kind and … soft. Unlike his sister who was one metre and eighty centimetres of permanent tension and seriousness, he was softer, warmer and also friendlier because he did not feel like he had constantly to prove himself to the rest of the world.

"Too well, yes…" he muttered as he stared at the bloodied bandages. "I wouldn't have allowed that one to happen, you know that, right? I am sorry for being this much of a selfish jerk, Rena, because I truly knew better than that."

* * *

><p>"…who … who is still able to fight?" Lynn asked, swaying on her feet and keeping the bag of ice Olivier had given her to her bandaged side. "They … they have … they have my daughter."<p>

Nerissa stepped back from the window and nodded at her sister. "I am still on my feet," she said as she pulled off the bandages around her upper arm. "That merely scratched me. I can fight."

"Well, if you go, I am kinda honour-bound to go with you," Olivier said as she crossed her arms. "We will bring another ice time over the faculty where they keep Victoria. By the way, did Kay manage to remove Nick's limiter? He won't let us leave without him – that's a fact."

"I … I want to be with you too," Jade said but she nearly fell to the ground as she rose from the couch. "It was my fault that she got caught. I need to make up for this failure now."

"You can hardly stand, Jade," her brother said, gently pushing her towards the couch again. "And you did everything that was in your power at the time. You just awoke from eight years of slumber. Rest now and I will go to pick up the pieces."

"So, what about Serena?" Riza asked sharply. "Did you talk to her already, Philippe?"

The man nodded as he closed his jacket. "She is asleep now as well," he said. "I will take care of her properly when I am back from this mission."

His sister, her face bruised and pale, nodded slowly. She had never bothered to learn all the little details about his relationship with the blond heroine but she knew the basics. She knew that her brother admired Serena greatly and that he cared about her, a lot. She turned her head in his direction, trying to read the expression in his eyes but there was the same invisible veil that had separated her from him for so many years.

"Jade," he said as he nodded at her. "I will explain everything later, alright?"

She raised her eyebrows, unable to conceal her surprise. This was new. He had never bothered to include her in his plans and considerations – because he had never been questioning her loyalties for there had never been a reason to doubt her. "Very well," she said as she took a step back and sat down on her place. "We will have a long conversation when you are back again, Philippe. By the way, how have you been?"

Roy's eyebrows furrowed. "Don't tell me that you checked on Serena before you talked to Jade," he said with a groan. "Phil, seriously? You know that this was the wrong decision."

"I won't judge this until I know all the facts," Jade said as she rested her hand on his shoulder. "Please, don't make this more complicated as it already is."

* * *

><p><strong>Journal of Ghost Woman<strong>

**Entry #4668**

I have never felt this hopeless and desperate before – perhaps because I have never seen so much blood before. The final battle (that was not truly final because the end was not decided outside where we might have won but in front of a trial) was by far the most terrifying experience I ever lived through.

So much blood.

I saw Ice Queen and Ice Bird bleed for a lost cause. I heard so many telepathic screams when some of us were taken away – to be never seen again. I would never have guessed that I would say this but I am missing everyone who has disappeared.

Scar for example was never my best friend but I trusted him and I cannot understand why he has been taken as well. It is not like he is a scientist or someone who takes kindly to being given orders. He is – like most of us – someone who strives for independence.

We have been hurt, all of us, and I am not sure how we will move on.

I have lost someone as well … and when I look at those who share her blood, I truly wonder how they can still breathe with the searing pain inside their chests. Because we all hurt because of this … there is no one among us who can say that he is happy with what has happened. Sarah and Urey lost their daughter because she has been given into someone else's custody and while they know her to be safe, it still hurt them.

But we can only make the best out of this because this is something superhuman powers cannot change. We have to accept the rules just like everyone else.

* * *

><p>Scar had been asleep when the door of his cell had been opened and a small girl had been thrown in. He had lazily opened his eyes to see that the girl had gotten the same new power limiter he had gotten which indicated that she was not a normal child.<p>

"Oi, little one," he had said. "Stop struggling and calm down. People will come to get you."

"The limiters – they hurt!" she had exclaimed. "Take them off, please! They feel too hot against my skin, please!"

He had looked at her, at the pained furrow over her eyebrows, at the way she had grabbed her own wrists and the unshed tears in her deep purple eyes. "Okay," he had said. "I'll try."

And now, ten minutes later, her limiter sported a first crack and Scar knew that this meant that they were halfway done. He used his full strength – or at least as much as he could use at the moment – to rip it off completely and stared in terror at the scar the limiter had burned into the girl's pale flesh. "Little one – what's that?" he asked.

"I have had this scar for as long as I can remember … I think that's where the first limiter is located," she replied with a small shrug, terribly unimpressed.

"Don't cry, little one, but I have to remove it."

"But – that's inside my flesh!" she protested weakly.

"That's why I told you not to cry," he said as he held out his scarf. "Bite on this to keep yourself from screaming," he ordered calmly as he looked for the scalpel he had stolen from the doctor who had implanted a tracking device into his upper arm.

"…okay," she said bravely as her fingernails pierced the couch she was sitting on.

"Brave girl," he said as he exhaled to place the first cut, cutting deep to get through the skin, to the limiter. "Clockworker let a souvenir behind, huh," he said as he removed the first part of the limiter. "You okay?"

She sent him a glare that literally said: _"Are you __**fucking**__ kidding me? You got a goddamn knife in my arm. This hurts, 'kay?"_

He sighed deeply as he removed the next part. "You could be a tad more grateful," he said. "I mean, sure, this hurts a lot but I'm only trying to help you, right?"

She closed her eyes as her jaw tightened. "Sorry," she muttered.

"Don't apologise for that," he said, dropping another piece of the limiter. "Granny loved you, didn't she?"

"I wouldn't know – I can hardly remember anything of this time," she said.

"Ah, too bad, little one … and here I was wondering why you let me get away with calling you that," he said. "Before, you would have tried to break my neck for calling you anything else than your given name … but if you can't even remember me … that hurts."

"I know that I used to know you and that I trusted you … but I cannot remember why I did such a thing," she said as she exhaled. "Care to tell me your name again?"

"Not now, little one," he said as he removed the third and final part of the second limiter. "Two down – and at least one more to go," he sighed as he watched how the wound he had left in her flesh healed. "You are healing just as fast as you used to…"

"Can you please call me by my given name?" she asked. "I mean … I don't want to sound mean but I kinda dislike being called anything else…"

"I do know this, Victoria, but for the sake of your own sanity, I should not try to trigger any memories until the limiters are removed," he said. "At the moment, your brain is too valuable to everyone and I cannot risk wreaking it carelessly. Do you understand?"

She sighed deeply as she watched how he broke down the third limiter. "Say, how can you break the ones that bind us both and absorb our power and still don't free yourself?"

"It's because I have my priorities set straight," he replied as he crushed the remains of the limiter. "At the moment, you are more important than me – and once you are powered up, you can destroy the limiter that binds me – because it can barely contain my strength anymore and if you use yours, it will give in within _seconds_."

She looked at him with the strangely distanced expression she had worn since she had been barely able to walk. "You are asking me to do the impossible," she said as she wrapped her healed arm, free of any limiters or tracking devices. "I can hardly land … so no one should ever expect me to learn how to fly."

"You aren't giving yourself enough credit, Victoria," he said as he lowered the scalpel for a moment. "You are the heiress of a long line of extraordinarily gifted people – to be strong now means to make them proud."

* * *

><p>Phil Mustang was a gentleman but also a warrior. He was kind and behaved perfectly polite usually but he had a reason to smash in everything in between of him and his goal. He had usually far better self-control but usually did not matter when the one who mattered most had been nearly killed and had been traumatised.<p>

"Oi, Stormy Boy, calm the hell down," Black Swan snapped as him as she broke down another door. "I know that you are mad because we all are but you won't help yourself by destroying everything in sight. That will only make you look pathetic."

"You are the one to talk – why are you even here instead of joining the Freedom-for-Victoria-team?" he asked as he used his air punch to get rid of a bunch of guards.

"Because I personally consider that getting the disks with our memories is a little more important than freeing a single person," she shrugged as she punched a metal door. "Damn, this is code-locked … where is Serena when we need her?"

He felt with her just too good because he knew that neither of them had any skill when it came to break codes. Even when they had been still actively breaking into the office buildings of dangerous industrial bosses, neither of them had done this part by himself or herself. Phil had had either Jade or Serena who got patterns within seconds and Jun Li had relied on people she did no longer remember to break her into everything.

They glared at the lock and did not hear the footsteps until it was too late.

"Excuse me, the lady and the gentleman over there, but you aren't really trying to break into the faculty of science without knowing the right code?" a woman asked with a light chuckle. "This would be very foolish, Storm Boy and Black Swan."

Jun Li twirled around, her arm transformed into a lethal weapon. She did not recognise the woman but she knew that she had known her once, before she had been to that check-up that had – according to Philippe – messed with her memories. She only knew one way to deal with this situation: erase the threat. The bladed arm cut straight through the woman's chest and the Xingese woman smugly retracted it – only to realise that there was no blood on the arm that had just pierced through an entire body.

"How rude of you, to cut me off before I was done talking, Miss Wei," the woman smirked as she impatiently crossed her arms right beneath the hole in her chest.

"Li – wait a moment," Phil warned as he looked at the stranger. "Is that you, Ghosty?"

"It would be Ghost Woman but yes, it is me," she replied. "It has been a long time since we have met, Storm Boy. I heard that your sister recovered?"

"She did, yes," he said and wondered why this comment made him feeling so guilty. "But why are you here, Ghost Woman? Did you betray us after all?"

* * *

><p>Important Author's note:<br>I got a second account - the link is on my profile :)


	15. Chapter 15

"…shit," Roy cursed as he found himself staring at the door. "Um, any suggestions?"

"Leave that to me," Olivier said impatiently as she crossed her arms. "Bird, take a step back as well. I will blow this door up and no one wants you to get hurt."

"Um, may I remember you that I am the one who has more experience at blowing things up?" Nerissa asked with a slightly impatient tone in her voice. She and Olivier had had their rivalry for many years which had been strangely logical because their talents were similar enough to make then direct opponents. And now, with the Miles-problem, their old and technically outgrown rivalry was back once more.

"This is not about blowing something up – this is about rescuing someone who needs our help," Olivier snapped. "Victoria is someone we need to protect – she is young and hardly aware of the powers she holds. Remember how shocking the discovery that you are different was for you, Nerissa, all those years ago?"

"If you had listened to Phil like a good little girl, you'd have noticed something: the timeline makes no sense the way it is and I ran some calculations and came to the conclusion that Victoria chose the life as a child over the life as a banished one – because there is no fun in being banned from everything and everyone you ever loved," Nerissa snarled as she readied her fist to perform her fabled Ice Punch. "This is no matter of pride, this is a matter of causing the least damage possible right now."

"Ladies, we can all be honest and admit that this is mainly about pride, too," Roy sighed as he took a step back. "The three of us have the reputation of being quite prideful and for that reason; we don't have to deny that all of us want to be the best."

"Mustang, don't make me punch you into the next week," Olivier hissed as she gracefully took the step back and watched how Nerissa smashed the door into tiny pieces. How the Ice Punch worked exactly was a secret the other ice user guarded carefully but the effect was always a reason for amazement and shock if not terror.

"I will never understand why you are blowing something up right when I was about to do the same," a familiar voice said as Scar, a former ally, appeared behind the wall of dust and destruction. "Really, really, you should work on your patience, Nerissa."

She snarled as she ran one hand through her hair. "You are simply too slow, Scar," she said with a mocked bow. "How long have you been here?"

"Oh, we just broke out," he replied nonchalantly. "It turned out that their cells are not exactly made of confining superhuman beings for a longer time … we tend to adapt to our surroundings after a longer time and this is why cells should be changed after a while."

"We?" Olivier snapped as she glared at him. They had been friends through Miles and it did not please her at all that he was merrily chatting with Nerissa instead of greeting her.

"Hey, there."

The voice was darkly familiar but the trio only remembered the way this voice had screamed a years ago and therefore, the memory was painful because to remember the voice meant to remember the end, the day their luck had ran out. But right now, there was no way to deny anything because the crimson hair, wavy and messy just like then, the violet eyes full of hidden truths and secrets and the timeless smile. There was no doubt.

Olivier moved the fracture of a second before Roy had figured it out. Her pale hands grabbed the girl's face and tilted it up before she rested her forehead against the girl's forehead. "It is you," she whispered. "It is really, truly you."

"Sorry for hiding in plain sight, aunty," the girl smiled.

* * *

><p>"…you should sleep now, Jade," Riza said as she entered the living room where the other woman was still sitting on the couch, staring at the dark sky above them. "Really, you have to be tired after all you have been through," she added as she helplessly stared at the black-haired woman who seemed to be lost in thoughts.<p>

"It is Phil's turn to guard this house tonight but he is not there," she replied after a moment without moving at all. "And whenever he is not there, it is my duty and my honour to take over for him … because this is what our partnership is about."

"You shouldn't be forcing yourself to stay awake when you are still hurt," Serena stated.

The black-haired woman smiled faintly. "That's the point," she said as she removed the bandages from her bruised arm. "Phil would do the same for me … and that's why I cannot let him down. We are two sides of the same coin and so I cannot do anything but doing what he would do … even if it hurts."

"Your bruises are nearly gone," Serena remarked as she collapsed on the couch. "You are still healing as fast as Phil always said you would if you are emotionally triggering your healing to speed up. What is going on, Jade? Why is this healing this damn fast?"

"I am worried about many people, especially those who left without gathering information beforehand," the older woman replied as she closed her eyes. "My brother and I, we have a connection and so I know that something is amiss. He … is not happy to say the least."

Serena sighed. "If I know something then it is that Phil will make sure that you are safe, Jade," she said calmly. "He is the protector; he was born and raised to make sure that you're fine. He will never let you down."

"Phil is no prince charming, Serena," she replied. "We both know that he is far from perfect and we both know that he has failed many times before. I would love to be able to trust him blindly on this because, well, he is my brother and I think that trust is an important thing in a healthy relationship between siblings but … he has hurt us before."

"He has grown since then," Serena said, eyes wary and tired. "He used to be a fool who wanted to do everything all alone and who refrained from opening up to other people but … can we really blame him? Like everyone, he has been through a lot and he wants to protect and he breaks when he realises that he cannot protect as many as he wants to."

"You have thought a lot about this," Jade remarked drily as she looked at the blonde.

"I am not you, sleeping beauty," the water user smiled. "But seriously, he cares about those who are kind to him and he loves so much that he frequently ends up hurting himself because it breaks him. You have broken him, Jade."

"This is what I was always scared of … that we would destroy each other. I knew that he had gotten me when I remembered that my last thought was that he would be alone now … but I had seriously prayed that I would not destroy him as well."

"If you had known that you would destroy each other, why did you let it happen?"

"Because … there is no way I could deny those I love anything," Jade said mirthlessly. "This is the final and darkest secret of my being. When I love, it is unconditional … and I face the risk of losing and hurting because of this. My brother … he knew that no matter what would happen, I would never let go … I loved him more than I love myself … which is quite ironic because we are one and the same. There is no Phil without me and there is no me without him. We are bound for eternity."

"That is actually kinda sad," Riza said as she sat down. "I mean … how will you ever learn to worship your freedom and your independence if you are bound?"

"Sad?" Jade repeated. "No, I wouldn't call it sad. This is no longer sad, this is pathetic. Some may argue that it is great to be bound in life and death … but how can something that restricts you be great? I … hate this a lot … but I love him too much to let go. It's because I am a coward that I am scared of losing him forever."

* * *

><p>Roy was impressed by Olivier's rare display of emotion and for a moment, he even believed that he saw unshed tears in her eyes. This was nothing like Olivier and yet, this was so typical for her. Somewhere, deep inside his mind, he remembered that she had shown emotions before when it came to this girl.<p>

"I … I really thought that you had died," the blonde whispered. "I should have considered the possibility that it was still you, just smaller and weaker."

"I can only apologise because … I should have remembered," the redhead replied as she smiled. "But that's me: a walking disaster and a risk. I am sorry for making you worry."

Astonished like never before, Nerissa watched how her long-term rival gently smacked the girl onto the head and took a step back but seeing that Nerissa's memories were in a far better shape than the memories of her friends, she remembered that Olivier had always been protective to the point of self-sacrifice when it came to Victoria who was her goddaughter and thus someone deserving of Olivier's attention.

"Um, Olivier, I really don't want to interrupt but … we need to disappear," Roy said as he grabbed her arm. "It looks like they noticed that Scar and Vicky are missing."

"If they are asking for war, I can gladly give them what they want," Olivier growled.

"While this might be a nice thought, it won't happen. We will return now."

"Kay," Olivier said as she turned around. "I was not aware that you are here as well."

"Well, someone had to make sure that you do not forget about the objective of this mission," the older redhead said as she smoothly crossed the hallway to get to the rest of the group. "And judging from this scene right now, I was right to come over here."

* * *

><p>"Betrayal? You are accusing me of betrayal?" the woman asked as she tilted her head. "No, I fear that you couldn't be further from the truth if you accused me of being the one who shot Miss Mustang," she added. "I have done nothing but making sure to survive with my memory intact … there was a mission I couldn't abandon like that."<p>

"A mission."

"A few days before Miss Mustang fell into coma, she told me to make sure that nothing that happens will corrupt the business," the brunette woman said. "I … I tried very hard to make sure that her will would be respected … because this is what she deserves."

"Explain that to me, please," Jun Li said as she held Phil back by his arm. "You … spied for our side, Ghost Woman? This doesn't seem like something you would usually do."

"Usually is a word that loses meaning once your superior dies," the woman replied as she unlocked the door and held out a card. "There, here you have a way to open all the doors. Get back all those memories, okay? I … I will go back into hiding now."

And before anyone could say something, she faded away and Jun Li could only punch the wall in frustration. "Well, that should have been expected," she muttered as she grabbed the key card from Phil and walked down the hallway. "In any case, that's something we have to report to your sister. She might be interested to hear about this."

"That sounds about right," he sighed. "She'll kill me for letting her escape, though."


End file.
